EvilLyn's Truth
by tenno
Summary: A story of He-Man, ten years after victory. Now reuploaded to be more reader friendly. Comments and constructive criticism greatly appreciated.
1. Evil-Lyn's Truth ONE

Evil-Lyn's Truth

ONE

The dark room seemed to get colder as the thick black blanket was pulled away from the long-hidden ram's head staff. A thin blue hand reached out from under raggedy black robes and grabbed the long handle, snatching it off of its stone bed where it had laid unmolested for a decade. The staff's master stood the staff upright, rubbing his hands over its onyx body then striking it against the stone floor, sending tiny inquisitive creatures into a startled sprint for safety.

The dark figure glanced around the room, casting a hint of red light from under his hood. Finding everything satisfactory, he stormed out of the dank chamber and back into the tunnels that had brought him here. The staff struck the ground sharply with each step of the dark creature. He paid no attention to his surroundings; having found what he wanted, he stalked out into the night.

Exiting the tunnel, he held the staff in the moonlight, though no light reflected back from its surface. The night had gone dead since the arrival of the dark creature. Even the insects ceased their chatter, hoping to be ignored until the intruder was gone.

Another figure stepped out of the shadows of the forest, this one lithe and graceful, but also cautiously cloaked. The master of the staff glanced at her with a passion that had nothing to do with her, but with his own success.

"You were right. You did find it, and you will be rewarded for your service." His voice was hollow, like echoes off a canyon wall.

"It is reward enough to serve you, Master Skeletor."

Her hooded master cackled a moment and threw back his hood, revealing a skull's face, devoid of all but the thinnest layer of pale, sickly flesh—almost translucent. "Spare me, Evil-Lyn. I know what you want. You will have it."

Lyn was not phased by the hideous visage of her master, or of his use of her nickname, the one that people had given her in fear of her natural powers. She had carried the name Evil-Lyn for as long as she could remember. It meant nothing to her anymore. Since childhood, she had been training in the dark arts of sorcery and black magic—witnessed terrors so horrible that her hair was white before her sixteenth birthday.

A winged creature the size of a large dog flew overhead. Lyn watched it disappear into the trees with wary eyes. "Master, things have changed in your absence. All of the known world is ruled by the Eternal Palace. Anyone not under the law of the Palace lives in hiding. King Adam has…"

"Silence," Skeletor hissed, grabbing Lyn by her robe and lifting her off the ground in one swift move. His staff stood obediently where he released it. 

Lyn's cowl fell back, revealing a gold painted face and white hair held tightly by a gold hairpiece that crossed her skull like spiders' webs. Her lips parted in sudden fear. Skeletor could physically rip her apart. Her spells died on her lips at the sight of his burning red eyes. It was just three dangerous seconds before she collected her wits and grabbed a wand under her robes that would help even the odds. Even if she couldn't win, Skeletor would know that he had been in a fight.

Skeletor's face was just inches from her own—if Lyn didn't know better, she might think he was smelling her. Skeletor was not capable of physical love. That had been burned from his body long before Lyn met him. No doubt his emotions had been snuffed out the same way. There was nothing left in Skeletor now but a love for power and a thirst for vengeance.

He released her, dropping her to the ground but not stepping away from her. His powerful hands, nails razor sharp, grabbed her shoulders, roughly massaging them. "No one knows how much time has passed more than I. No—my ten years of exile in limbo will not be forgotten soon. My hatred burns like lightning fire through these dead veins. My chest is tight with the fury of my desire to hurt the ones that did this to me. I want to hurt them. And then, I want to keep hurting them. Evil-Lyn, my loyal servant, this is the most alive my dead body has ever felt." He laughed, a mad laugh that echoed through the forest. Lyn's eyes went to the tree line. "No." He grabbed her shoulders harder, his nails found flesh and bit deep. "You fear them even as you stand in the presence of your master. That cannot be." He released her and stalked to the tree line.

"Come He-Man. Come King Adam, with your heroes and armies. I am ready."

Lyn came to stand next to him, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. "I am sorry Master Skeletor. It has been so long. Since our defeat, I too have been in exile, living with the beast men in the jungles of Sahar'iah. He-Man has not been seen since the day of your exile at Castle Grayskull."

"Of course. And that is why we will win now. They have gotten soft while we have gotten stronger. No doubt King Adam has retired the Sword of Power to the recesses of Grayskull where he found it. I imagine he placed it next to my own stolen blade in some reverent private ceremony. Before he thinks to retrieve it, we will be among them. Before they can think to put up a fight, the battle will have been won."

Lyn whispered, frightened by her own words. "Master, your forces have been scattered or destroyed. Snake Mountain is torched and abandoned. Let us look to other places on Eternia—places that will easily fall before our might. From there, we can rebuild, you can create an empire of loyal followers and then stage your war."

Skeletor left Lyn standing by the forest edge. He grabbed his staff, still standing obediently in the spot he had left it. He turned. "There is no place but Grayskull. There is no enemy but the now King Adam and the Sorceress. As I murdered his parents, so shall I do to him. No doubt the Sorceress is still crippled from our last battle?"

"Yes, Master. She is still weak. She trains her successor."

"Successor?"

"Teela, Lord," Lyn said the name like it was a bad taste in her mouth.

"Perfect." Skeletor's face managed to stretch into a smile. It was far more horrible than his usual sneer. "Your confidence has been shattered. No doubt the same is true for all my warriors. Gather who you can. Our first mission will be a gift to you, Evil-Lyn. You have only ever asked me for just one thing. To date, my promise to you on that day has gone unfulfilled. It will go unfulfilled no longer. What we do to them next will reignite our old war in flames that burn hotter than the sun."

Lyn bowed low to her master. "Thank you, mighty Skeletor. You have me, body and soul to use as you will."

"Of course, my dear. I never doubted it." Skeletor gestured with his staff, hissed a word of power, and created a dimensional gateway in the clearing—a man-sized oval door of swirling mist that could only be seen from one side. 

Seconds later, the two dark figures were gone. It would be hours before the creatures of the forest crept out of hiding, days before they forgot the terror that had visited them.

The Eternal Palace was the pride of the kingdom of Randor, now united under the name of the deceased King who had brought them together, his son on the throne. The palace's glowing spires scraped the clouds and dimly cast their light over the city on even the darkest nights. The walls of the palace were a light, multi-colored shimmering miracle, born from the expert mixture of magic and technology. From a distance, the walls looked like crystal, shining with a million colors under the rays of the sun. Closer, they looked like frozen water, colored like festival candies. The delicate appearance of the walls belied their power; drawing its energy from the near limitless power of the stars—no known weapon could pierce its beauty, and only the greatest magic-users could force their way in uninvited.

Surrounding the Eternal Palace had sprung a city the likes of which had never been seen in the history of the world. With peace came a prosperity not seen before by anyone still living. Its population lived completely without fear, finding comfort in the shadow of the palace. Indeed, plans for a city wall had been discarded. There was no way they could build walls around a city that never seemed to stop growing. Tradesmen and farmers traveled from all over the kingdom to sell their wares in the markets of the city. Many found, when they got there, that the Eternal City would be a perfect place to create a new life for them self. As such, travelers were confronted with architecture and cultures representing all of Eternia's known lands. Houses of log were built beside houses of stone. There was even a section of the city devoted to nomadic tribes who had given up their wandering for a short time, but did not want to leave their familiar tents and campfires.

All activity was carefully watched by guardsmen who still bore the scars, on their bodies and spirits, from the war that had ended just ten years before. No one wanted to see the return of the violence that had plagued the world during those harsh times. Most of the kingdom's inhabitants had a story to tell from the war—someone they knew, someone they loved—those wounds were just under the skin, hiding behind the genuine smiles, but resurfacing now and then to bring painful tears of remembrance or vacant stares of quiet thoughtfulness. The pain that everyone held so close to their hearts helped to bind the people together. No matter the distance between village or culture, in some small way, they felt like family.

Even in the farthest corners of the kingdom, it was a life's goal for many people to make the trip to the capital city. With the defeat of Skeletor, the roads had been cleared and were safe. Only the most careless or foolhardy travelers were accosted, most likely by simple thieves looking for an easy living, rather than violent criminals looking for an easy victim.

King Adam often climbed one of the four towers in the Eternal Palace to gaze out upon the city that people credited him for creating, even though its beginnings were chronicled in his parent's history. He had grown into a handsome man. His thick golden hair fell just below broad shoulders that befit a man accustomed to more physical labor than one would typically think of for a King. This was due to the intense training he subjected himself to everyday under the tutelage of General Duncan or one of his experts. His face was handsome and kind, but could be solid and stern when challenged. High above the standard viewing platform, where there were supposed to be no windows, he could see most of the city and even more of his surrounding lands. Not even walls could bar sections of the palace to the King—not just because of his rank, but because of the royal ring he wore on his finger, giving him the ability to create holes in the wall as big as he needed them, and then seal them again.

On this day, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. Although he accepted the honors the kingdom had bestowed on him during his coronation, it was for their sake, their need for a hero-King. That was ten years ago. Since then, he could finally look at what he had done and feel some sense of accomplishment. He had taken advantage of the peace that came with Skeletor's defeat, he hadn't squandered it or allowed the kingdom to break apart under the stress of petty differences. He-Man may have won the war, but Adam had become the King that the war was fought for.

Randor had certainly not forgotten He-Man. Today was the celebration of the freedom that had been won from Skeletor ten years before. Today was He-Man's Day. Adam smiled. He knew that some part of him was He-Man, and was happy to have served as a vessel for the hero's spirit, a soul that he was bound with—two becoming one. His people had never known. What would they say, he wondered, if the truth were made known? It was a question not worth pondering. He-Man was gone—the sword buried in a tomb under Grayskull where he had found it years ago. The people only half-believed that He-Man would one day return to them. They spread the legend that he would come again in time of need, but even Adam, looking at this new kingdom of peace, doubted anyone alive today would see that need.

Seeing a commotion at the city gate, Adam's eyes focused on what looked like simple riders coming in from outside the city. It was hard to see them from this distance, but he could make out no more than a dozen horses slowly approaching the palace, surrounded by people pressing to get as close as they could without barring the riders' path.

"Teela's back," Adam smiled like a man fifteen years younger. He waved his hand over the window he had made, the ring sealed it shut. Adam didn't even bother to wait for it to finish closing. He was bounding down the stares, muttering under his breath. "Leave it to Teela to travel from Grayskull with only the barest entourage." It wasn't that she was in danger—far from it, Teela could take care of herself, but her arrival in the city, unannounced, would cause such a commotion that life would literally come to a halt outside the city walls until she was out of sight. Teela was not just a hero from the war, she was heir to the throne of Castle Grayskull, and in training to be the next Sorceress.

Adam stopped. Which gate? Her father's, of course.

General Duncan, refusing to retire, was still in charge of the armies. Even the city guardsmen acknowledged him as their commander-in-chief. He disdained the trappings of the authority thrust upon him by the people, but did his job with very little public grumbling. Duncan preferred to be riding over the countryside and personally hunting the few enemies the kingdom still had to sitting behind a table of maps and orders. Adam expected that he enjoyed his post more than he let on. Duncan finally had an audience hanging on every word of his many stories.

"King Adam!" Adam halted. That high-pitched, scratchy old voice could only come from one source. Mestra had helped raise his parents and had then raised Adam. Adam knew that, until he had kids for her to raise, she would feel like she was still raising him—crown or no crown.

"Good morning, Mestra," he said politely. "It's always such a pleasure to see you before dinner."

Mestra's eyes narrowed dangerously. "King Adam, you should not be outside of your chambers without your crown. Now I've told you…"

"Oh, yes—my crown," Adam said in mock surprise. "I'll get it right now, Mestra." He bolted.

"King Adam, your chambers are the other way!" she called after him.

"Thanks," he yelled back politely, continuing his sprint to the gate. The Eternal Palace could be a little too big some times. 

The staff of the palace were used to seeing their King informally running throughout the palace. They bowed politely, but made no attempt to stop him with formalities. Responsibility had been thrust upon Adam too quickly, and although he handled it well, he cherished the moments when he could act like he felt, without ceremony or approval.

Adam was more disappointed then surprised to see the courtyard empty when he arrived.

Although the walls around the palace were made of the same material as the palace walls, eight gates granted easy access to any visitors. Each gate was big enough for a large wagon to pass through and could be sealed by simply expanding the wall, creating a virtually impenetrable shell around the already impenetrable palace.

Next to this gate was a large barracks building set against the wall, and on top of that, nearly level with the wall, was the simple quarters of General Duncan. He believed that living with his men kept him aware of who they were, and therefore, how to deal with them. Adam and his daughter Teela had pressed him into conceding to a private quarters under the pretense that he may have important visitors to entertain. Each visitor he had met had politely declined the offer to stay with the gruff general, preferring instead the luxuries of the palace guest rooms. Duncan didn't even install running water for himself. He almost always slept in his lab anyway, where he tinkered with a dozen devices at a time.

Adam's presence had not gone unnoticed by the guards. Word traveled fast in the tight chain of command General Duncan had constructed. He was outside in the traditional green and yellow uniform of the kingdom's soldiers. Only the mark of the crown on his right shoulder betrayed his uniform as the dress of a general instead of a field solider. He was flanked by two guards that followed him everywhere, ordered by the King at the request of Duncan's daughter, Teela.

"Your Majesty," Duncan bowed. That was as formal as Duncan ever got with Adam. Almost immediately he was upright and slapping Adam on the shoulder like he had done when Adam was just a boy training to use his first sword.

"How are you, old friend?" Adam smiled at his mentor.

"The food here is too good. How can you expect these boys to go off and fight? One night of jungle food and they'll be crawling back here on their knees to use the toilets."

"Same Duncan." Adam rolled his eyes playfully. "You'll always find something not to your liking to complain about."

"I may be unchanging Adam, but you're looking more like you-know-who every day." Duncan was one of the few people who knew that Adam once used the Sword of Power to become the people's champion, He-Man.

Adam glanced at the guards. They were hand-selected, would never betray the trust of their general or their King. Adam knew he could say what he pleased in front of them with no fear of it becoming rumor, but it still made him uncomfortable. "You have the day off," he told them. "General Duncan will be with me all day."

"Yes, Sir." They did not question, but followed their orders, marching away quickly in order to give the King the privacy he wanted.

"I can't spend the day with you. I've got…"

"Cancel them. Teela's here."

"Teela! She sent no messenger before her," Duncan said gruffly.

"Does she ever?"

"But there are protocols to follow. My guardsmen had no idea…"

"Same Father," a laughing woman's voice interrupted.

"Teela!" Adam shouted, running forward to hug his childhood friend as she dropped from her horse. Teela wore the riding clothes of a man, but there was no mistaking her femininity beneath them. The clothes were tighter than anything a man would wear. Her red hair was held in a tight ball at the top of her head, contrasting sharply with her flawless white skin.

"Teela," Duncan berated her. "You know better than to show up without any notice. I can't believe you traveled here from Grayskull alone!"

Teela smiled guiltily. "I'm not alone this time. King Adam, may I present Castle Grayskull's Sorceress."

A horse stepped forward, revealing a figure dressed in flowing white robes, hiding her every feature. She removed her hood to reveal a soft woman's face, stretched in a magical agelessness that was betrayed by the knowledge held in her eyes. Her hair was held up by a pearl tiara shaped like the face of a falcon. Adam and Duncan bowed deeply. The people around them followed suit.

General Duncan was the first to rise. He had known the Sorceress for many years, having met her on his first mission, patrolling outside of Grayskull. That was before anyone called him Man-at-Arms, a nickname given to him only half-jokingly by his commanders because of his struggle to be the ideal soldier. He had pulled himself away from any human contact outside of his military life. Then he had met the Sorceress.

Longing for human contact, neither of them experienced in the ways of the heart, they had become close, too close to the Sorceress' mind. She pulled away from him, retreating into Grayskull's walls. Duncan found Teela in the woods just outside of a campsite he was guarding a year later. Even then, he knew the mystery of the child's mother. Duncan had never loved another woman, and still thought longingly of the time they had spent together. But unlike the Sorceress, Duncan's walls were eventually penetrated by love—the love he shared with his daughter.

His meetings with the Sorceress since then had been from necessity alone. Her eyes had looked on his with the same caring, all-knowing gaze she met everyone with, and it broke his heart each time.

That was why his heart jumped to his throat when she looked on him this time. For the first time since she had left him, she looked on him with the love they had shared so many years ago.

Adam and Teela both knew of her lineage, but neither had thought about the buried emotions behind the story. That was why they didn't see it this time.

"Welcome, Sorceress. It has been too long Your presence fills the Eternal Palace with goodness." Adam bowed again.

"King Adam, our history together is long and deep. I have been away too long. I hope to change all that by the end of this journey." The Sorceress smiled, but it was clear that she was weak from the journey. She was often weak since their final battle with Skeletor years ago.

"You are welcome to stay as long as you like. Tonight, we'll have a feast that celebrates the peace brought to our world through your guidance." Adam gestured to a group of servants who had stopped to watch the arrival of the kingdom's most mysterious hero, the guardian of Grayskull. They rushed forward to unload the bags of the travelers. "My people will show you to a comfortable room, Sorceress. I know you will want to rest from your day's journey. It is a two day march from Grayskull."

He made sure everyone would be taken care of before he grabbed Teela's arm and pulled her into the palace after him.

She ran after him playfully, appreciating the chance to let go of her equally daunting responsibilities. Soon, they were in the inner garden, a vast room that held thousands of species of plants brought as gifts from all over Randor, and some beyond. The sight was breathtaking, and the smell was intoxicating.

"Teela," Adam said warmly. "It's been almost two years since your last visit. Why do you stay away so long?"

"You're not the only one with responsibilities now, King Adam," she mocked.

"Oh forgive me, Sorceress," he joked.

Her smile faded. "You know already?"

"What?" he asked, catching her change in tone but not knowing what to make of it.

"Adam, the Sorceress will make the official announcement tonight at dinner, I'm sure, but you might as well know now. I am the new Sorceress—or I will be soon anyway."

Adam's face went white. He knew the day would come, but he thought it was still years in the future. The Sorceress was young, she didn't need to be replaced immediately. And what about him?

"Don't look like that. You knew this day was coming. What do you think I've been training for these past ten years?"

"It's not that Teela. It's just—well—ten years. Do you think that's enough time?"

"Oh, I see. This coming from a guy who went from gawky Prince to Eternal Protector at the wave of a sword."

"Don't turn this into a joke, Teela. I'm not kidding."

"Adam. I don't want to fight. That's not what I came back for."

"No," Adam retorted. "You came back to leave."

"It's not that simple. You don't know. The Sorceress… Nevermind. It's for her to say." She pulled away from Adam, taking on the practiced air of the Sorceress and former captain of the guard. "I'd like to see my quarters now. The trip was…draining."

"Of course." Adam looked at her. He was never capable of putting on that air of unattached authority figure, and he couldn't mask his love for Teela now. It had gone unspoken for so long. Once, she had loved He-man, an impossible crush. That crush had blossomed into the true love she felt for the man behind the sword.

Seeing her face now, one of cold certainty, Adam realized there was nothing more to be said that wouldn't just be hurtful to them both. He walked back into the palace halls and looked for a servant that could show Teela to a room.

Teela sat down and angrily fought back the tears welling up in her eyes.


	2. Evil-Lyns Truth TWO

TWO

Skeletor's Havoc Staff pushed aside the hide flap of his tent. He quickly followed, stalking into the center of the beast men's tribal grounds, each step accentuated by the thump of his staff on the dirt. He had tossed aside the black robes Lyn had brought him. The beast men had prepared clothes of their finest leather and bone for his return. It was a delicate balance. Too much material, especially metal, could disrupt the delicate energies of Skeletor's arcane power. Later, Skeletor would add his own touches, ones that would only amplify his power.

Skeletor eyed the beast men warily. They were little more than slaves, and only just smarter than a common ape. The beast men were the size of small men, but covered in fur with faces that betrayed their close ties to the primate family. Their bodies were no where near as powerful as their evolutionary cousins. The beast men were not accustomed to hard labor. They had gained the ability to control the animals of the jungles around them, and used those animals to perform even the most menial tasks. Skeletor had once fostered the idea of turning them into a fierce army, but the beast men were less than useless as fighters. Their killer instincts had been buried long ago. They would fight only when cornered. Still, they made good servants, and their loyalty was unquestionable. They thought Skeletor was a god, and would do nothing to anger him.

The sun had just begun to set. The beast men's shaman was preparing a fire for the ceremony Skeletor had demanded. The shaman was indistinguishable from the other beast men in all but the blue paint he were across his forehead and down the bridge of his nose. Each year the shaman was chosen based on the beast man who showed the greatest control over the animals of the jungle. A beast man who challenged the shaman for the position would summon an animal to do battle with whatever animal the shaman could summon. The two creatures would do battle until one died or ran off. In that way, the shaman's position was determined until the next spring without any beast men shedding the blood of their own kind.

Skeletor eyed the shaman's preparations with approval. He scanned the crowd of gathering beast men with disdain until his eyes fell on a human figure sitting against the side of a tent, paying no attention to what was going on around him. He wore the rags of what had once been a simple night gown. A cloth, dark with oozing fluid, was wrapped around his head, covering his eyes. The man was filthy and thin, near death but hanging on through force of habit. Skeletor sneered. The mighty had fallen hard in his absence, but he had no use for failed warriors.

The shaman's fire finally lit. Skeletor could have lit the fire with a simple gesture, but it had to be a natural flame in order for his spell to work. 

The shaman backed away while the other beast men moved forward, beginning a religious dance that Skeletor had no interest in. Skeletor watched the stars, making sure everything was right with the powers he would draw from tonight. Not until the beast men ceased their dancing did Skeletor look back to the shaman's fire. 

The crowd had split into two groups, males on one side, females on the other. Skeletor could barely tell the difference between the two. At the head of the groups was a tent. Two beast men ceremoniously pulled the flaps of the tent open. None of this was necessary for the spell Skeletor would cast. A beast man walked out of the tent. He was no different than any other beast men in the tribe except for the red dyes that had been smeared all over his brown fur, and the blue and white dyes that now marked his face. The red dye had been prepared by Lyn for this very night. Skeletor's victim had been chosen. He thought he would be receiving great power, and he would, but at the cost of his free will.

Skeletor spoke to the beast men who could understand for the most part, but did not have the physical ability to speak in kind. "Years ago I came to you with the gift of great power to one of your kind. That beast man was killed by the people whose lands even now infringe on your jungles. He died a great warrior, defended your jungle, and you know he is now a spirit god that protects this tribe. The humans in the lands beyond have grown in strength again. They wish to come back, burn down your trees, steal your water, kill your animals—but they will fail."

Several beast men grunted their vague approval. Many were having difficulty following Skeletor's speech. "Tonight, I will grant this beast man the power I granted the other. Tonight, he will become a god with me, and we will go forth to destroy your human enemies."

Skeletor gestured vaguely. "Bring him forward."

The red beast man walked forward slowly. He could not hide the fear in his trembling form, his breath coming in rapid panting Skeletor's red eyes fell on his. He wanted to run, but the eyes kept him locked in place. His knees were weak with a terror he had never known.

The eyes of the ram topping Skeletor's Havoc Staff took on the glow of their master's eyes. The hair of the beast men stood up, and they began to howl furiously, though none could find a reason for their sudden anxiousness. Wind pushed through the trees, causing the fire to blow dangerously towards the crowd. In the jungle, the animals felt the fear of the beast men through their psychic connection and joined the panicked howling Even the ragged figure to the side, barely conscious of the world, began to whimper quietly. Skeletor's body flexed, thin muscles tightening, he thrust his staff into the air, and his mouth opened in a silent scream that only other creatures of evil could hear. The red beast man was motionless now, making no noise, his fear forgotten. His eyes never left the eyes of the staff. Skeletor's evil scream crept into his ears, getting louder and louder until he could hear the grunts and cries of his own people no longer. His muscles began to change, his body thicken. The dull teeth in his mouth grew into sharp fangs, while the nails on his hands became vicious claws. His instincts to kill were awakened from their centuries long dormancy, and then heightened to the level of sadistic cruelty. His senses were sharpened to an almost maddening level of awareness, and his mind quickened and dulled all at once. He would be cunning, but he would be servile. Even his ability to control the animals around him had been enhanced; he could now control even powerful monsters and use them to fight his battles.

The new, remade Beast Man howled. Skeletor slammed the end of his staff into the ground. The eyes went suddenly dead, but did not stop staring at Beast Man. With that, the tribe collectively fell to the ground, their energies spent in ways they could never understand. Some twitched, as if plagued by nightmares, but most slept as if dead. Indeed, the energies Skeletor had used had been their own. They would find themselves suddenly growing older more quickly. It was the price of the magic that they had unwittingly paid, but they would never make the connection.

"Won't He-Man be surprised to see you again, my friend," Skeletor hissed.

Beast Man snarled with delight. His master approved and nothing could bring him greater pleasure.

The ragged figure watched with sudden focus. "Lord Skeletor?" he whispered in a voice not used to speaking. Then he was gone again—lost in the torments of his own mind.

Adam walked through the palace gardens, half-hoping that he would find Teela still there. The trees had always provided a shady solace for Adam in his youth. He had insisted that in the construction of the Eternal Palace, remnants of the old garden he cherished were kept unspoiled. Adam couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia now for the long restless days of irresponsibility spent hiding from his tutors or shirking appointments. His father was strict, warning Adam that he was heir to the throne in a time of war. And he often worried that he was shielding Adam too much from the harsh lessons the war was teaching the rest of the world. His mother just smiled, pleased to see some bastion of innocence left in a world of monsters and black magic.

Then, Adam had been given the Sword of Power, following a voice that lead him to the previously hidden Castle Grayskull. The castle came alive, and Skeletor found what he had spent years looking for. With the sword, Adam became He-Man. It connected him with the people of the world, making him feel their sorrow, and convincing him that he had to work to end it. Adam became little more than a disguise, changing back to his adolescent body, the muscles were stripped away, but not the emotional burden he had felt when holding the sword. Adam kept up the disguise of irresponsibility so that no one would connect him with He-Man. But now his former leisurely lifestyle became a chore, when all he wanted to do was grab a spear and join the army to stop Skeletor. He wanted to be He-Man forever.

That was all gone now. Skeletor discovered his secret first, and used that knowledge to hit He-Man where he was most vulnerable, his heart. And so his parents were both murdered. He-Man set out that day to end the war for good, and he defeated Skeletor. Skeletor swore that his sprit would live on if he was killed, so the Sorceress banished him to an undying nightmare in the realm of Limbo. Adam's close friends discovered his secret, but it didn't matter. He gave up the sword. He-Man was gone forever. And now, he could only hope that he had He-Man's courage and strength as King.

In another hour, he would be hosting the dinner feast. Things had certainly changed.

Adam's reverie was broken when he heard the soft padding of a great animal in the underbrush to his right. There was only one giant predator allowed in the gardens—Cringer, who had saved Adam in Castle Grayskull and become He-Man's Battle Cat. Cringer's fear of violence was not a façade the way Adam's irresponsibility was. He was genuinely afraid of everything. It was funny coming from a cat eight foot in length with rippling muscles and a set of teeth and claws that could shred armor easier than most swords.

"Cringer, I was hoping to find you here," Adam said warmly.

"Where else would I be?" Cringer purred, stepping out onto the path and lazily stretching his green and yellow-striped body "The grass makes a much softer bed than the palace floors. And besides, the staff is always waking me up. They move around too much. I have sensitive ears, you know."

"Yes, I know. Listen, Teela and the Sorceress are here."

"Both of them. Oh… It's not bad news, is it?"

Adam hadn't really thought of that, but then, neither of them seemed to have hinted of some danger. "No, it's not bad news," he told Cringer. "I don't really know what it is, but it's not bad, I think. Anyway, they're making the formal announcement at dinner tonight."

"Well, whatever it is, you can count me out. I'm staying right here at the palace. There's plenty of food, the staff is too scared of me to wake me up when I'm napping, and the performers on festival nights are the best in Eternia."

Adam smiled. Some things never changed, others did painfully. "Teela is the new Sorceress."

"Really. That's wonderful news."

"There's more, but I don't know the rest." Adam sat down under a tree where Cringer followed him.

"Why do you sound worried about it then?" Cringer asked, lying down next to his friend and lying his heavy head on Adam's chest.

"I don't know." He paused. "Teela's too young."

"She's older than you. And besides, the Sorceress must think she's ready or she would never… Oh, wait. You don't think she's too young. You have a personal interest in this, don't you?"

Adam looked at his friend in mild surprise.

"I've known all along. I am a cat, you know," Cringer purred.

"It's just not fair," Adam whispered, but Cringer heard clearly.

"Adam." Cringer lifted his heavy body and sat down in front of his friend. "Go to the dinner. Listen to what she has to say. Then tell her how you feel. You have to. You know, cats can sense emotions like smells. I guess less fortunate cats use it to sense fear in their prey. In fact, I really shouldn't be telling you this, but Teela has felt the same way for a long time."

Adam stared across the garden, but his thoughts were far away. "I've always thought so Cringer. I mean, I've always hoped so, anyway."

"Go to the dinner, Adam. I need to take a nap. This has been enough excitement for one day" Cringer padded away. Adam didn't watch his best friend leave, but he smiled as he heard his nearly silent steps slowly fade away. Cringer was not the slow-witted animal everyone thought he was.

The feast was magnificent. Adam so rarely allowed his staff to put their full powers towards making him a meal, even when he had guests, that they practically relished the opportunity to flex their celebration muscles. The food was brought from all over Randor and prepared by three chefs, each specializing in different foods. The staff wore fresh uniforms and real smiles. The crystal dishes sparkled in a rainbow of colors.

But all of the splendor and festivity was all but unnoticed in the King. He was so rarely in a bad mood that the staff didn't recognize its symptoms. They just thought he was being contemplative and quiet, surrounded as he was by old friends.

Duncan noticed, and he made a mental note to himself to ask Adam what was wrong after the dinner, not suspecting that what was such a joyous occasion for him could be so painful to a man he saw as a surrogate son.

The meal ended quickly, specialty deserts and drinks followed. Now was the time that Adam dreaded, but better to get it over with then let it stagnate inside him any longer. He stood.

"Friends." He looked around at the near hundred guests he had invited to the banquet. Many he hadn't spoken to in months. Some were regular guests of the castle. Two were dignitaries from across the sea, ambassadors from a land that Adam had never known existed before their arrival. Seated next to him were his closest companions. Duncan, who he had fought with against Skeletor and learned from his whole life. Teela, who had been his close friend and first love. And the Sorceress, who had guided his spirit through a war that so often left wounds that hurt the soul more than the flesh. "It is my great pleasure to have you gathered here with me today. Randor, once a small nation under my father, has now blossomed into the dream of peace and prosperity he envisioned. We are stronger than ever before. Our people live without fear and I believe they are truly happy. The people gathered here today made that possible." There was some cheering that started at the far end of the table. "Sorceress," he turned to face the woman to his left, dressed in a fine gown of white silk and looking like a Queen herself. "You have not visited the Eternal Palace since the war's end. It is a particular honor to have you with us today." He bowed.

The Sorceress smiled. Although she still looked like a woman in her young forties, she was old, and the knowledge of decades lived beyond the years of most men was alive in her eyes. She stood. "Your Majesty." Adam blushed. He would never get used to someone like the Sorceress using his title. "My journey here was one of true joy. The roads are safe. The towns are safe. The people have food in abundance. They have time to spend with their families without the fear of violence erupting around them. And let me assure you, they are all happy. We are all happy." There was clapping and another cheer from the other end of the room.

"I have made this journey with a glad heart. My work is nearly done—and it has been so long." Her eyes fell on Duncan, and then went to Teela, both across from her. "Just ten years ago I took my daughter, Teela, to Castle Grayskull to train as the next Sorceress. Many of you here know that this was never an easy task. Teela resisted sorcery the way mountains resist time. I had it all wrong, though. I was blind even. The sorcery was deep inside her, and when we found it, it out-shined my own damaged powers, but in an unexpected form. With our new discovery, we both came to understand that she was ready to be the new Sorceress."

The guests cheered and clapped with alacrity. Duncan put his arm around his daughter, his eyes beginning to water.

"I have come to ask your support, King Adam of Randor. In two days, Teela and I leave for the abandoned ruins of Snake Mountain in search of a relic long-thought lost, but revealed to me by Zodac, who watches over the celestial forces focused at Castle Grayskull. We seek your aid in reaching Snake Mountain. The object must be found and Teela entrusted with Grayskull's care before the end of this month, or it will be years again before Grayskull will be ready to accept a new guardian." The Sorceress sat back, locking eyes with Duncan, who had already guessed the news and beamed with pride.

As much as Adam wished Teela would never leave the palace again, wished he could lock her in forever to be with him, he realized that he would be crushing the spirit in her that he loved. She must be free to do what she longed to do, and that was to take on the mantle of Sorceress. He knew what was expected of him. "Sorceress, you will have men and horses to guide you to Snake Mountain. You will have fresh supplies to sustain you on your quest. And, you will have warriors to protect you, any that will volunteer themselves to your service. Let me be first among the volunteers. I will guard your way."

Duncan smiled. This was what he lived for, traveling with his friends on the open road. "Perhaps your company could use an old Man-at-Arms to make the way a little safer, although the King's soldiers have already taken most of the exciting danger off the roads. I will be there." 

There was applause and cheering again from the other guests, but Snake Mountain was the one place none of them would go, and they couldn't conceive of their King volunteering to join the group. The magics of Grayskull were revered by the people, but not entirely understood, and so they were feared. Snake Mountain had been a place of evil since the dawn of civilization, since the first wars centuries ago with the snake men and then again when it became the center of Skeletor's evil empire... Fear of that dark place was ingrained in their blood from ancestors long dead who had fought and died on the slopes of the accursed ground.

The party went on long into the night. Adam watched but did not participate. He could only hide his sadness so much, and he was embarrassed as well by his misery, attributing it to lingering adolescent immaturity.

Two days later, before the sun rose and the people lined the streets, Adam enjoyed the feeling of a saddle under him as he set off down the road with his small party of friends and the handful of loyal soldiers that Duncan had allowed to go with them. There had been too many volunteers to take them all. Snake Mountain was a week's travel away. He had to find the courage to tell Teela the truth before then or he knew he would never be able to.

Far from the jungles of Sahar'iah and the spires of the Eternal Palace, Lyn appeared on a small island not much bigger than a cottage. The island was really just a rock jutting out from ocean's depths. There was room for just one person to stand next to the rock on a small beach. Nothing could be seen from the island but endless ocean.

Lyn threw back her cape. She enjoyed showing off her body, knew she was beautiful, and the little clothing she wore was designed to prove that. 

If Skeletor forced the magic to do his bidding, Lyn seduced it. 

She turned to the rock wall and saw, hanging from a peg that had been thrust magically into its side, a conch shell. She lifted the conch off the peg and rubbed her hands over its rough service. She had etched magical runes of power into the conch years ago, knowing this moment would one day come. She put the conch to her lips and blew a note that roared across the ocean and into the water with the magical force of a hurricane. The fish below the water, even the great whales and deadly sharks, fled in terror.

The message was delivered. Now, Lyn had to wait. She delicately placed the conch shell back on its peg and stared across the water.

She did not have to wait long. Mer-Man's head quietly broke the surface of the ocean water, watching the beautiful dark figure who had blown the horn. No normal human could have seen him in the darkness with just his eyes above the surface, but to Lyn's sorcery, his presence was like a red flare. He had been imbued with Skeletor's magic. He could not hide from her.

"Welcome, Mer-Man. Please join me," Lyn gestured for him to come forward.

Scowling, Mer-Man swam closer to the little island until his chest was above the water. Mer-Man had the look of a barracuda that had been given human characteristics. His mouth split wide across his face, revealing row after row of sharp teeth. His eyes were wide, and could see clearly in the murkiest waters during the darkest nights. A layer of skin would close over each eye when he walked the world during the day, so that he would not be blinded by the bright light of the surface sun. Tough, crocodile skin, covered his body. It was all the armor he really needed, but he wore the bones of giant fish he had slain, and added strong shells that could deflect human weapons.

Mer-Man was not unique in the ocean. The race of mer-men had once ruled all the waters of Eternia, but their population had been decimated by a plague that they blamed on humans. The plague had actually been released by a great rock that had fallen from orbit around Eternia and slammed into its oceans, releasing the alien virus. The Sorceress of Grayskull at the time, centuries ago, banished the virus when she realized what it was doing to the fish of Eternia, and especially to the mer-men. The mer-men had no way of knowing this though. Terrified that the humans would do even worse to their ocean home if confronted, the mer-men adopted a policy of secret existence, staying hidden from all land-bound life. They had no skill with weapons. In fact, they viewed the use of weapons as a despicable human act, proof that the humans were unnatural fiends. No other creature in the world made use of weapons the way humans did. Each animal was blessed with the natural weapons that the creator had provided. The fact that humans had no such natural defenses was proof that they were an abomination. So they settled with attacking small fishing boats that drifted too far out to sea, or sailors that had fallen overboard and were going to drown anyway. As such, they were little more than legend to the sea-faring people of Eternia. 

Mer-Man did not agree with his people. Out of pure hatred for the humans that seemed to be invading his realm more and more, Mer-Man attacked the human ships over and over again, despite the warnings of his elders. He was reckless, caring little if a human saw him. Let them fear the water, he thought.

Finally, Mer-Man's recklessness proved his downfall. He attacked a boat of amateur fisherman just off the shore of a major port city. A nobleman and his son were on holiday, spending a few precious moments together. Mer-Man attacked, dragging the son into the water and quickly killing him. When he returned to finish the father who had seen him, he was struck with a fishing spear. Severely wounded, Mer-Man fled. The nobleman had no idea that the creature who had taken his son was intelligent, but he knew that some monster haunted the bay in his city. He put a reward on the monster's head. Fleets of fishermen from all over Eternia came to claim their fortune, thousands and thousands of fish died needlessly.

Mer-Man defended his actions to his people. They chose to banish one of their kind for the first time in their history. He would never again be allowed to swim the waters of the ocean.

For years Mer-Man haunted the swamps of Eternia. He still attacked people, but only the weak and defenseless. His hatred of humankind grew, becoming a dark trench over his heart. That's how Skeletor found him.

Skeletor granted a bit of his power to Mer-Man, then sent him back to find an object of power long buried on the ocean floor, a trident from legend that had power over creatures of water. He constructed a sword made of poisonous reef and shells. Skeletor blessed the sword with his unholy power, and Mer-Man used it to slaughter his own people, seeking revenge on what he saw as their injustice and lack of foresight. When Mer-Man found the trident, Skeletor discovered that only a creature of the water could use its power. So Mer-Man kept that too, and became a tyrant ruler. His people fled before him. The trident could not control them or the whales and dolphins that man considered friendly to them. The mer-men escaped his blood-shed by retreating to the far reaches of Eternia. Mer-Man was alone again.

"Hello, Evil-Lyn," his voice gurgled. "Your presence can only mean one thing. Lord Skeletor has returned."

"Yes, Mer-Man, the master has returned. We will strike Grayskull before the Sorceress can defend it. I trust you are ready to return to Skeletor's service."

Mer-Man's throat clicked nervously. "Countless battles, Evil-Lyn. We lost them all. I want to see the blood of humans coloring my waters red, but I do not know if I am ready to return to that life."

"Skeletor knows you better than you think, Mer-Man. First, I am to remind you that his power courses through your veins. If it were suddenly ripped from you, your physical body would crack and you would die. Second, Skeletor has no need of your services as a warrior at this time. I'm sure he will in the future, so just be ready when that time comes. He will only call on you again when he stands inside Castle Grayskull's walls."

"What has become of Skeletor's other forces?" Mer-Man interrupted. He knew most had been killed in the last war. "I saw Beast Man die. And the Sorceress dispelled the energies that held Trap-Jaw together. He is little more than a collection of parts now on the floor of Grayskull's dungeons. What of Tri-Klops and the others?"

"Tri-Klops is a shell of the man he once was. He lives with the beast men. I took him with me when the Sorceress blinded him."

"Pity from you, Evil-Lyn? I find that hard to believe."

"No pity, I assure you. I thought I could reverse the spell and at least return his normal vision, if not the magical sight Skeletor gave him, but I couldn't. There was no point in killing him. He's as good as dead anyway."

"And the others?"

"No more questions, Mer-Man," Lyn spat in indignation.

"Just one more, Evil-Lyn. If Skeletor does not yet need me as a warrior, why are you here?"

"I was coming to that. Not all of Skeletor's old forces are so easy to find as you are. You will use your trident to call through the waterways. Whiplash has taken to the deep swamps surrounding Grayskull. Contact him with this message." A crystal bauble containing the magical message appeared in Lyn's hand and then floated across the water to Mer-Man, who cupped it gently and then tucked it into his armored shirt.

"As you wish, Evil-Lyn."

"You will keep that crystal, Mer-Man. With it, I will contact you in the future with further instructions."

Mer-Man's lip curled, revealing row after row of sharp teeth. He then slipped under the water's surface and was gone.

A moment later, the island was empty again.


	3. Evil-Lyn's Truth THREE

THREE

Castle Grayskull left no doubts as to the origins of its name. The only path that pushed aside the heavy jungles surrounding the castle lead its travelers to a stone fortress whose front was the ghastly face of some long dead, forgotten being. The eyes, just below two watch towers, were sunken and grave. The nose was two dark gashes across the middle. The mouth doubled as a drawbridge, now closed, but seeming to perpetually scream in torment. Surrounding the walls of the Castle Grayskull was a dark lagoon, where the only living things that survived were supernaturally cruel and powerful, thirsty for the life they could devour but never possess. No plants grew near the immediate edge of the water. That water would provide no sustenance for them.

Long ago, Castle Grayskull had been a dead place. The Sorceress had used her powers, not to defend Grayskull, but to hide it. She knew it wasn't enough. Skeletor got ever closer to discovering its hiding spot. Then one day, during her routine watchfulness, she spied Duncan patrolling the nearby jungles, and parted the veil surrounding Grayskull. It was seen by mortal eyes for the first time in three centuries. 

Later, unaware of the brief love affair, King Randor had asked Duncan to take his son into the dark forest, to make a man of him, but to protect him from any harm—a difficult task and one he only trusted to his finest soldier. Adam actually enjoyed being away from the castle, no where near as grand as the Eternal Palace. He enjoyed hearing Duncan's stories of battle, but saw them as little more than entertainment. He was not a soldier. He was a Prince, not arrogant, but confident that he would never find himself on the battlefield. The Sorceress changed all that when she lead them to the castle, quieted Duncan's suspicions, and gave the Sword of Power to a boy whose pure soul she could see through the layers of irresponsibility he had surrounded it with. At first, she thought to give the sword to Duncan, but the sword had to go to one not so experienced as he. He had seen the ugly faces the world sometimes offered. Adam was more open to the emotions that would flood through him when he first lifted the sword and became Grayskull's champion.

It was then that she revealed herself to them. It was then that she felt the presence of her daughter in the company of the men, surprised that she had remained hidden from her. Teela was dressed like a boy, but already developing a woman's curves. She did not speak to Teela. And she did not speak to Duncan. Her words were for He-Man, who knew her. She revealed to them that Castle Grayskull was there before Eternia, though not in its current form, and that Castle Grayskull was a focal point for the cosmic energies that surrounded and built everything in the universe. She told them that there had been many who had held the title of Sorceress, protecting Grayskull, and that there had been others who held aloft the Sword of Power and became He-Man, mightiest of all mortals. She charged him with the task of stopping Skeletor. He could have said no. He could have given her back the Sword of Power, turned away, and she would have made sure that they all forgot Castle Grayskull. But he couldn't turn his back on the suffering of Eternia that he was now connected to.

Years later, He-Man finally did defeat Skeletor. He returned the Sword of Power. Its power slept again, deep in the bowels of Castle Grayskull where no creature crawled, but eyes watched everything.

Since the war had ended, King Adam had commissioned a small fort built to watch the road leading to Castle Grayskull. Its location was now general knowledge to most of the kingdom's people, so he felt more protection was needed. Every once in a while some lord who thought himself a knight would go searching for Castle Grayskull looking for adventure more than anything else. The fort was there to turn them away. There wasn't many people who tried. The two day march through uncharted, wild jungle was enough to keep most people away.

Ram-Man was in charge of the fort. He came from a land far removed from Randor, across the eastern mountains of Aeris. There, his people held gladiatorial type sporting events once every generation. The winner was awarded a sacred armor that made them nearly invulnerable and entrusted with the task of defending the magical gate that was the only means of entering their land through the mountains. The winning gladiator donned his armor and then held his post until the next contest, twenty years later, when he retired to a life of honor.

Ram-Man won that contest. He proudly defended the gate from wild animals and nightmarish monsters for nearly fifteen years. Then, Skeletor came, searching for a power that could defeat He-Man and win his Grayskull. Skeletor tricked Ram-Man into leaving his post and fighting Grayskull's defender. It was a clash of titans. The unmatchable force of He-Man versus the invulnerable power of Ram-Man. There had been no clear victor; thanks to the Sorceress' intervention, the battle was stopped.

While Ram-Man had fought He-Man, Skeletor had searched the gladiator's lands for the power he sought, forcefully subjecting the people to his will. He found nothing. Ram-Man's people were peaceful. There energies were spent on the magical gate that isolated them from evil like Skeletor's. And their trust was spent on the protector who had never failed before.

Ram-Man could never go home. His people might have forgiven him, but he could never forgive himself. With the gate destroyed and his home in ruins, he kept the armor and vowed vengeance on Skeletor. After the war, he had tried to return home to give back the armor, but the gate was gone forever. There was no way back. King Adam accepted Ram-Man as a loyal subject, and gave him the duty of guarding Castle Grayskull.

Everyday Ram-Man awoke to a new purposeful happiness. He had done his job well. After the war, there had been a few minor skirmishes. Some of Skeletor's forces refused to believe that their former master was dead. Ram-Man decisively sent them back to whatever rock Skeletor had found them under.

He wasn't alone, though, the way he had been when he guarded his homeland's gate. A small squad of soldiers kept the fort with him, rotating out every ninth months. Ram-Man took each new recruit up the path with him and made him stand before the drawbridge. No one could look into Castle Grayskull's eyes and not feel awe. And so, no one complained that they had been selected to guard the sacred grounds.

Ram-Man listened to the sounds of laughter from the men inside the fort playing at a game of dice that involved throwing them on the ground and jumping over certain boxes according to what the dice read. Ram-Man had no tolerance for games because they seemed to have none for him. He was a powerful fighter, but too clumsy for sport and he couldn't think fast enough for games of wit. He stood on the roof, watching two soldiers come up the path bearing water from the brook.

A week ago, the drawbridge of Castle Grayskull had opened. The Sorceress had passed by, revealing herself only to Ram-Man. "Keep this secret. You are Castle Grayskull's only defender now. I will be back in one months time, Ram-Man. You are a true friend and a champion defender." The others wondered why he had slept less and become so serious. He was vague, but mostly silent. He didn't trust himself not to slip and reveal more than they should know.

The soldiers joked below him. "She said she would _try _not to forget me while I was here. What do you think that means?"

"What do I think what means?"

"The try part."

"Oh, come on. At least you have a girl back home to miss ya'…"

"I guess you're right."

"Unless she didn't try hard enough." He laughed. The other soldier spun to punch his friend warmly, but firmly, in the arm. The water between them rocked and spilled.

"That was your fault," said the one with the girlfriend.

"How can you say it was my fault? You hit me."

"You deserved it." They both laughed, then happened to catch the sun reflecting brightly off Ram-Man's armor from the roof. "Sir," they said in unison, waving with their free hand.

Ram-Man waved back, but his eyes told them they needed to stop joking around and take care of their duties. They agreed to go back to the brook and gather some more water. Ram-Man watched them go, suddenly fighting off a sense of dread as he watched the two of them saunter carelessly into the jungle. He almost stopped them, but discarded his concern as the results of the new tension he was feeling with the Sorceress gone.

It was hot. The sun rarely pierced through the shade of the trees so effectively. Ram-Man, accustomed to wearing his heavy armor every day, was surprised to feel sweat trickling down his back. His armor was heavier than any a lord would have made. It rested heavily on his shoulders and surrounded his head, then draped down to cover his body down to his knees, where heavy boots took over the job of protecting his skin in battle. The total effect made him look like a human ram, thus the origin of his name. He had never told anyone, not even He-Man, the name he was born with. That was a part of a past he had nearly forgotten, but sometimes haunted him in dreams.

Ram-Man noticed a change in the forest immediately. He hadn't been actively listening to the songs of the large birds that made the jungle trees their home, or the chatter of the small monkeys that feared those same birds, but he noticed the sudden silence, as if every animal had stopped to watch breathlessly… What?

Ram-Man jumped carelessly from the roof. The power in his magically augmented legs made the jump effortless. He was sure the soldiers inside had heard the thud of his heavy landing though. He didn't want to break the silence with undo hysterical shouting before he knew what he was dealing with. He loosened the battle ax on his belt, tapped its sharp blade with his massive finger.

It was useless for someone as big and awkward as Ram-Man to try to move stealthily and he knew it. So instead he moved purposefully down the path, not hiding but not panicking He waited a moment before leaving the road and getting on the trail that lead to the brook. What was in there? Should he call to his men? It was probably nothing. Still, the jungle was silent.

Ram-Man went in.

He followed the trail for five minutes before finding the brook. Beside it was the empty bucket, now overturned. The men were no where in sight. He knew he should go back for at least two of his men. They were no doubt guarding the fort on full alert. He was alone. But he had to find those two soldiers. Every minute he wasted was another minute they might die.

He went to the water's edge confidently. Nothing he knew of could pierce the invulnerability his armor granted him. He had nothing to fear but the loss of the lives of his friends.

Next to the water he saw the boot prints of soldiers walking back and forth along the trail for water, but nothing else. There was no sign of struggle. The prints ended at the water's edge.

A bird broke the silence, each sharp cry startling even Ram-Man's battle-hardened nerves. He pulled his ax from his belt. No one would carry an ax as big as his. No one could swing it with any control except Ram-Man; it was as heavy as a man but brought Ram-Man no comfort this time.

Something came to the water's surface and was then rushed down stream before Ram-man could see it. Suspecting the worse, he leaned over the ledge and peered into the water, expecting to see the bodies of the two soldiers at the bottom.

His men were dead, but their bodies were gone. Ram-Man peered into the yellow eyes of a warrior-predator just below the surface. It was only for an instant, but in that instant Ram-Man relived a lifetime of failure. The green scaly face peered up at him, flashing a wide, sharp-toothed grin. The creature's muscled scales tensed, and then a tail with the power of ten men lashed out from the water, wrapped around Ram-Man's legs, and pulled him in. An instant.

Even under the water, Ram-Man swung his ax furiously. He hit something, realized it was dirt, and spun around. He couldn't find his attacker anywhere, couldn't see clearly in the murky water. His armor was too heavy. He couldn't swim, but he could walk his way out. Ram-Man fought against the mud. He was buried to his waste. He felt himself slowly moving forward. The water pushed in on him. He had hit its surface without air, startled by the sudden attack.

Still, he pushed on. He closed his eyes, forced himself to remain calm. His great strength pushed him towards the water's edge. The top of his helmet broke the water's surface. Ram-Man pushed harder. He put everything into one last surge of energy that would carry him to land.

Just then, the tail struck again. It wrapped around Ram-Man's body, went taut and was almost jerked loose when Ram-Man leaped forward, but then held and pulled the gladiator back down. Ram-Man thrashed against his enemy violently. The tail let go. Now Ram-Man was on his stomach at the water's bottom. 

His enemy watched him struggle for another minute—just reflex. Then, Ram-Man's body went limp and settled into the mud. No amount of war armor or weapons could save a man who couldn't breathe, his enemy thought. He waited another minute, and then pulled Ram-Man's body to the surface. Skeletor would be pleased to display the body of his enemy. He would reward Whiplash for his service today.

When Skeletor was banished, Whiplash had retreated into the swamplands of Eternia, a vast endless bog where life was hard for all the creatures. Only the fiercest predators could survive in a world without light, that was often flooded, but where the water was stagnant and sick. It was a perfect hiding place for Whiplash. There he waited, worshipped by a race of amphibian troglodytes that resembled the tribe Whiplash had left to join Skeletor. "One of your race will be imbued with great power, and will serve me for all time." That was how Skeletor found most of his evil horde. Whiplash didn't mind serving. He had been given great power. He looked forward to more. But then Skeletor lost. Whiplash had never expected that.

Two weeks ago, Whiplash got a message carried to him through the water and delivered by one of his troglodyte worshippers who was primitive enough to understand the words behind the magic. It was Mer-Man's words, but Skeletor's plans. Whiplash was more than happy to lash out at the heroes who had sent him into this exile. He longed for the rays of the sun to bake his scales and warm his muscles. To that end, he set out immediately. He watched. He waited. And when the time came, as Skeletor had ordered, he attacked Grayskull's new champion.

Ram-Man's defeat was vindication for the suffering Whiplash felt he had unjustly endured. He was powerful. Skeletor had made sure of that. Standing at nine feet tall with a tail twice as long, and an instinctual cunning, he easily slaughtered the remaining guards. Ram-Man had been his only fear. The others had no weapons that could hurt him. He waited until night, just the same. And then his tail had lashed out, snapping the necks of the guards one at a time from the darkness, then bashing down the fort's gate. They came at him with everything. Bladed weapons were useless, bouncing off his armored hide… Their guns couldn't find him in the night and only stunned Whiplash anyway. Having killed them all, letting none escape through the gate he thought, he submerged himself back into the water and sent Mer-Man the message of his victory.

In the night, one shining star of hope shot through the sky, headed towards the Eternal Palace. When Ram-Man hadn't come back immediately, the guards had had the foresight to send their own message home.


	4. Evil-Lyn's Truth FOUR

FOUR

Duncan cursed the volcanic heat and the rocky trails that hid, to his mind, an ambush around every bend. It had been a long time since he had worn his full Eternian armor and complete tech pack. The hand blaster that covered his left arm up to his elbow seemed to have gained twenty pounds over the last few days. He had designed it himself, having been an inventor before he had the responsibility of all Randor's defense. He still carried the tech-mace he had carried into battle for nearly twenty years. Also his design, the mace added an electrical jolt to each blow that made his strikes feel like lightning bolts.

Snake Mountain was still a day away. The trip had been as uneventful as he could have hoped. Since coming into the mountains, they had seen signs of troglodyte tribes and even troglodyte scouts in the distance, but with an armed escort that had grown to ten men counting the King and Duncan himself, the troglodytes were happier hunting their standard fare. Unless, Duncan thought, they were preparing something. He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't help feeling that he was the only one who did think about it.

He looked back at Adam. He had grown into a brave warrior. Even though they had met no enemies and he knew the others would protect him with their life, he never complained about wearing the hot breastplate and greaves at all hours, even while he slept. With no heir, Randor would fall into chaos if something happened to their cherished King.

Adam looked up from sharpening the war ax he had brought with him. The Sword of Power was not to be used to kill, so Adam had never trained with the sword to kill. Even though the Sword of Power was locked away in Grayskull, and Adam thought he would never use it again, Duncan had explained to him that learning to use one sword one way and a different sword another way would slow him down in a fight. So he used an ax. He doubted any of the soldiers would let him get close enough to use the ax anyway.

The Sorceress and Teela sat under a tent for shade, whispering something to each other privately. They had been doing a lot of that since the trip started. Adam had never had the moment he needed to speak with Teela.

One of Duncan's soldiers jogged down the path to meet him. He was too young to feel the heat that Duncan was feeling. "Everything looks clear. There's nothing we haven't seen before. Some troglodyte tracks. Nothing else."

"Good. Go tell the King yourself. Let him know we'll be leaving in five minutes." The soldier jogged over to Adam with boundless energy. Duncan was jealous. He adjusted his armor for the fourth time that hour.

The Sorceress and Teela seemed to be able to stop whatever they were talking about and pick up again at any time. Teela folded their tent and added it to the pack she was carrying. She had insisted on carrying all of her and the Sorceress' belongings. In fact, she looked less tired than anyone else doing it. It made her father smile proudly to see his daughter had grown so strong despite the weaknesses he saw in relying on magic everyday.

The group marched deeper and ever higher into the craggy mountains surrounding Snake Mountain. Here, the weather alternated between baking travelers and freezing them. There never seemed to be a respite from one extreme to another. It was a harsh land, and they all knew that straying from the one path through the mountains would lead them to immediate danger. 

Rounding a bend, they were watched by an eye that had seen no enemies in over a decade, and rarely before that. It had a simple mind and knew only one response to intruders to its realm. With a heave of power, the creature pushed itself away from the rock wall and came alive.

Duncan blinked his eyes. At first it seemed that the wall of the mountain had moved. His confusion lasted only a moment. He still didn't know what it was, but he knew he had to stop it. "Surround the King! Surround the Sorceress!" he commanded.

The creature moved forward. It was made of rock, pieces that fit together with no sense of symmetry. The rock had a hand that could grab, but no fingers and no feet to speak of, just the flat base at the end of stubby rock legs. On the mound that made up its head rested the creature's only real feature—a red ruby that shined with the light of the powerful magic that animated it. It towered over the men with their sharp sticks, nearly twice their height.

"It's a rock golem," the Sorceress warned them. "It will be impenetrable to most of your weapons."

A guardsman flung his spear, testing the monster's hide anyway. Predictably, the spear merely glanced off the surface of the golem's rock skin. The guardsman drew a tech-club from his belt, undaunted. Duncan looked on in horror as the golem seemed to roll forward and sweep his arm around. It struck the guardsman with such force that the sickening thud left no doubts as to the man's fate.

Far removed from the battle on Snake Mountain, Skeletor was pouring over a spell that he hoped would give him access to Castle Grayskull. Whiplash had reported that some sort of energy field had been left over the castle, defending it even in the Sorceress' absence. Skeletor was sure he could get through it, but it had to be before she got back to Grayskull and before she knew of his escape from Limbo. Skeletor did not know where she had gone, only that she was gone. There was no one defending Castle Grayskull.

His thoughts were interrupted by Lyn, storming into the room in a way that she would never normally do.

"What is it?" Skeletor hissed.

"The Sorceress. We've found her." Lyn reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out a wand with a fist-sized crystal globe at its top. The globe came to life under Lyn's free hand. "There."

They could see what the golem saw. Skeletor watched his rock golem crush the life from a young guardsman. He saw the Sorceress and the warrior woman he recognized as Teela with her. He saw Man-at-Arms, who he knew now ran the armies he would be up against. But he gasped with fear, suddenly thinking that all his plans had been for nothing, when he laid his eyes on King Adam.

"He-Man," he spat.

"No, Overlord. It is only Adam, King of Randor. The celestial energy is no longer his to command. You see, he has no Sword of Power," Lyn assured him.

Skeletor looked more closely. "Ah, yes." His ghastly face twisted into a smile. "Still, the Sorceress is there. She must not know I have returned. Not yet. There will be time for that soon enough."

With a wave of his hand, Skeletor reached across the gap and released the energy from the golem's crystal.

Duncan rushed to fill the gap that his dead soldier had left behind. "Sorceress," he yelled over the golem's grumbling roar, "this is a creature of magic. We need you."

The Sorceress' head lowered. "I have no power to spare Duncan. I cannot help us, even though it cost all our lives."

The golem raised its arm to squash Duncan the way it had squashed the other human. From the corner of its eye, it saw another small man rush forward and strike at its massive leg stalk with an ax. The blow was a mighty one. The ax shattered. The rock chipped. The golem turned to crush this human first.

Then, as quickly as it had ignited, the rock golem's energy dispersed. It collapsed in a pile of rubble.

Adam held the handle of his ax, now useless.

"You did it!" Duncan slapped him on the back encouragingly. "Who needs He-Man?" he joked.

"I'm afraid not." Teela's lithe body stood beside them before they realized it. "The golem lost power. It should have lost it long ago when Skeletor was banished. Your blow was impressive," she looked at Adam, "but it didn't hurt the golem." Adam's eyes fell to the ground. He had made decisions that had changed the lives of thousands of people, but he could not face Teela.

"Teela is right," the Sorceress came to stand by her. "We were very lucky to have lost only one."

Duncan and Adam nodded, their eyes falling on the victim of the golem's attack. Duncan looked up to assess his remaining men. They were shaken, but still professional, already eyeing the path for more enemies. "Bury this man," he said. He was the first to start digging.

The next day, the party could see Snake Mountain looming above them. It was a tall peak, but not the highest in the forbidding mountain range. Its rock was black obsidian with molten fire frequently streaming down its sides. At the summit was an enormous snake's head, carved their ages ago by the snake men as a tribute to themselves. The ancient home of the snake men had been gutted after the war with Skeletor. Adam had been determined not to let the place became a nest for more evil. 

He looked over at Duncan, who was also eyeing the mountain warily. His old mentor's words the night before had been harsh.

"Adam, what you did this afternoon was very brave," he had started, "but also very stupid."

Adam balked, "I'm not a boy anymore, Man-at-arms. You trained me yourself. Eventually the golem would have broken through and attacked anyway."

"Maybe. But we might have given you time to escape."

"I would never have ran away!"

Duncan interrupted him. "You are no boy, Adam--you're right about that. You are the King. And you had better remember that. I won't be giving you another weapon. I wouldn't want you to be tempted to fight again should the situation arise."

Duncan then walked away without another word. Adam knew that unless he wanted to pull rank painfully on his old friend, he would have to live with the decision.

Duncan brought the group to a halt at the foot of a long stretch of stairs that lead into the evil fortress. Adam had last been here as He-Man. In fact, he had never been here without the Sword of Power.

"We stop here for the night," Duncan called from the front. "This place is still dangerous. We won't be climbing it until tomorrow when we have a whole day to get in and out. I wouldn't want to be caught up there in the dark." The guardsmen nodded their agreement enthusiastically.

Adam glanced over at Teela, already setting up her tent. He had to speak to her tonight, or not at all. He helped the guardsmen set up the campsite first. He lit the fire while a small group found some more dry wood. Duncan unloaded a dried meat from the provisions and started preparing it.

Adam watched Teela leave the Sorceress in her tent to gather some water. She brought a small pot over to the fire and set it their for the water to boil. She crouched wordlessly next to the fire, waiting for the water to heat and pulling leaves from a pouch at her waist that she would use to mix a potent tea that the Sorceress loved. She paid no attention to Adam. They had spoken only when necessary since their conversation in the palace gardens. He cursed himself for being so timid. He cursed Teela for being so oblivious to him. His fear turned to anger. It spurred him to action.

He reached over and placed a warm hand over Teela's soft wrist. "I have to talk to you," he choked.

She looked at him. He saw for the first time, pain cross over the smooth features of her face. "I won't let you dump all of your concerns on me, Adam. I know you're afraid that I'm not ready. I'm afraid that I'm not ready, but the Sorceress believes in me and this has to be done. I won't listen to anymore arguments about it. I've already made them all to myself anyway." She prematurely threw a leaf into the pot.

Somehow encouraged by her misunderstanding, Adam found the voice to tell her the truth. "Teela, that's not it. I don't worry about you becoming the Sorceress. I know you can do it. When you first left, I knew. But secretly, I wished that you would fail."

Teela gasped. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to lose you."

Teela's eyes watered. "Adam, I will always be there for you. You'll know how to fine me. I won't shut out the world. The Sorceress admitted that she made a mistake when she did that."

Adam sighed. "Teela, you don't understand. How could you? I've always been so reserved. It always seemed like the wrong time—now seems like the wrong time." Adam leaned closer to Teela so that he could be sure no one else heard him. "I don't want to have to visit you when I want to talk. These last few years have been torturous. I want you by my side forever, as Queen." He couldn't believe he had said the words. He watched her eyes go wide. He knew he had shocked her, terrified her even. He couldn't stay. He stood up quickly and walked back down the path the way they had come.

Duncan hadn't seen the exchange, but he did see Adam leaving. He pointed to a guardsman, an understood order that he was to follow his King. Duncan's real worry was his daughter though. He hadn't seen her cry since she was a baby. Now, he couldn't believe his eyes. She brushed away tears, unaccustomed to them. Embarrassed, but without control, she buried her head in her hands and wept.

Duncan had the sense not to embarrass his daughter further by intruding on her now. She would tell him what had happened when she was ready to.

The Sorceress watched her apprentice sob knowingly. How could I have been so blind? she thought. She had cried those same tears once before.

Adam didn't wander far, and he came back after just an hour. Teela was sealed up in her tent with the Sorceress. He could hear them whispering, but couldn't make out any words. It was probably for the better, he told himself. It was best not to know what kind of fool they thought he was. Duncan looked at him curiously, caught Adam straining to hear inside the tent, and that was when he knew everything.

Without realizing it, he had cursed Adam to his own fate—to love a Sorceress of Grayskull. He looked away from his King. The idea was too big for him.

It was under this pall of desperate concern for each other that the companions set out the next day. Teela and the Sorceress had talked long into the night. Their only real decision had been to continue on their quest and return to Castle Grayskull. The Sorceress would retain her position forever if she had to, but Teela felt it was unfair, more unfair than the card that life had just dealt her. The Sorceress had performed her duty. Besides, she longed to see her father happy. He was so lonely.

In this mindset, the group climbed the steps leading to Snake Mountain's hidden entrance. Duncan had found the secret passage years ago while Skeletor had still ruled the mountain. In this way, he had snuck into Snake Mountain and taken Skeletor's remaining forces with minimal bloodshed.

Before noon, they had reached the beginning of the new trail, taking them away from the long steps and into the bowels of the ancient fortress. At the end of the trail was a clearing, guarded at one point by Skeletor's minions, long gone now. Behind an overgrowth of trees was the entrance to the cave that Duncan was looking for. He shined a beam of light from his tech pack into the black tunnel, surprised at how well he remembered the secret passage. The group followed him in, silently. They knew that Snake Mountain was not completely empty.

The passage narrowed and widened unexpectedly—sometimes large enough for a horse—sometimes so small that the heroes had to crouch down and crawl through, scraping the sides of the cave. It seemed like hours, but it took them less than one to clear the cave. Soon, they were standing in the polished halls of Snake Mountain.

It had been said that the inside of Snake Mountain had been carved to give its visitors the impression of being passed through the belly of a snake. It was a thought that none of the group appreciated now. The walls were smooth and slick with moisture. The only natural light streamed in from far above them, where the snake mouth silently hissed endlessly.

Duncan turned to face the Sorceress. "We are here. Where do we go now?"

"Deeper, Man-at-Arms. We must go as deep into Snake Mountain as we have ever gone before. We will travel into a place where even Skeletor feared to go, beyond his own infernal laboratories."

Duncan wasted no time in argument. He lead the march into bowels of Snake Mountain. At intervals, they found torches that could still be lit hanging on the wall. Duncan took them down and passed them out until everyone had one.

They walked for another hour before they found the trap door, now thrown open, that lead to Skeletor's private rooms. None of them had been even this far before. Duncan had simply thrown a blast-bomb into this pit when Adam had ordered that Snake Mountain be gutted. He regretted that decision. He no longer had any idea what to expect, and Snake Mountain had been far too quiet up to this point. They could all feel it in the air—something watching them, whispering, brushing lightly against their bare skin.

One guardsman was left behind to stand watch. Duncan lead the way down the stairs. "Slippery," he whispered. Indeed, they felt as slick as a snake's skin. He cursed himself for the thought.

At the bottom was a large room with charred walls. Duncan couldn't tell whether it was the result of Skeletor's magic or his own bomb. At the room's center stood a still pool of water in a stone well. Along the walls were Skeletor's books and scrolls lined chaotically on shelves. Maps and weapons hung from the walls or had fallen to the ground below their assigned spot. The body of something that had once been humanoid lay on a table next to several painful looking instruments.

"Touch nothing," the Sorceress warned. "Let me pass."

Duncan ordered his men to fan out around the room, but to take the Sorceress' orders seriously. Nothing should be disturbed.

The Sorceress, now wearing the falcon mantle of her station, strode into the room confidently. She circled the well twice. She came to the edge of the pool of water and stared into its fathomless depths. "I have saved my power for this. Afterwards, you may only be able rely on Teela. I will be useless to you until we return to Castle Grayskull and I bathe in its energies again." With that, her arms came up, falcon's wings falling from her wrist.

There was no rush of power, clap of thunder, or glowing light to accompany the Sorceress' spell. There was only the swirl of the water as it retreated deep into the well. The Sorceress did not move. "Go," she told them.

Duncan peered over the edge of the well, not surprised to see another stair case leading into its depths. He jumped in, then looked at the Sorceress. She had not moved, and a look of pain crossed her face.

"Sorceress, what is it?" he asked.

"The water is alive. I must fight it until you return. Go. Hurry," she said breathlessly.

Without another word, Duncan raced down the stairs, Teela and Adam behind him. The Sorceress told the guardsmen to stay in the laboratory. This task was for Teela and the people closest to her to undertake alone.

Below Skeletor's lair was a cavern thick with air that had stagnated there for thousands of years. Duncan choked noisily, embarrassed.

"I can sense it now," Teela told him. "It's just a little bit farther." She lead the way deeper into the cavern.

The mist seemed to cling to Adam as he rushed after Teela. At the last minute he had convinced a guard to give him an tech-club in case they ran into trouble down here. He didn't honestly see how anything could live in this putrid environment.

The small group pushed through the mist, deeper into the cavern. Duncan turned off his light beam to reserve power as the mist began to let off a pinkish glow of its own. Teela now lead the way.

She was the first to feel the change in the floor. The solid rock gave way to a creepy, pulsing softness. Teela just nodded at the two men, letting them know that she was aware of the change and that there was nothing to fear yet.

Finally, they came to a set of barred gates, made of a metal none of them could recognize. Duncan examined them and noted that they were locked and probably enchanted. Teela pushed past him, striking the gates and uttering a word of power that sent them flying open. The men said nothing. Their environment defied emotion. Everything around them was dead in the death of a thousand years without interaction.

The mist did not penetrate beyond the gates. The floor was stone again, giant blocks of yellow stone. Teela spat a word of command, lighting globes along the wall. Adam and Duncan drew their weapons. Before them sat, curled, a creature out of their darkest nightmares. It was a snake the size of a castle, with wings like the sails of a great ship. Its eyes shown with malevolent cruelty while its teeth dripped with venom, hissing when it fell to the ground.

"This is the snake god of the mountain," Teela told them. "The Sorceress told me that the mountain was probably originally built as a temple to this creature."

"What do we do about it?" Duncan asked.

Teela walked towards the giant beast. "Great one, I am Teela, an apprentice to the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull. We have come for the serpent staff. It is needed to guard the celestial fortress and its Chamber of Secrets."

The snake hissed and lowered its head slightly. "Humans. How did you pass by my worshippers?"

Teela was taken aback at first. The giant snake must know that its worshippers had long been dead. "Mighty one, your servants have not inhabited Snake Mountain for many hundred years."

The snake's wings fluttered violently, stirring up the century's dust from the floor and nearly blinding Teela. "The humans won? The humans won!" Its voice never went above a whispery hiss, but it shook the walls of the ancient room. "I warned them, destroy Castle Grayskull and its protectors. Destroy the warm bloods or they will destroy you."

"Those wars are ancient history," Teela reminded him. "The ancestors of the snake men are troglodytes. You would not recognize them. They are the physical and mental equivalent of a snake-man child."

More venom dripped from the mouth of the serpent. Its head lowered slowly, nearly at Teela's level now. It stared into her eyes. Teela felt the serpent in her mind, probing, trying to win control. She would soon be the new Sorceress. The serpent would not be able to control her mind. She fought it off, but gave it the information it wanted. The serpent, ancient beyond even the understanding of Teela, took the nook she had provided for it. It stretched her mind, learning in seconds everything Teela had learned in a lifetime. Satisfied, the creature lifted its head and scanned the room, eyeing the two men who had entered with the brave girl.

"You seek the serpent staff. You are wise to covet its power. You will be the greatest Sorceress the world has ever known once you wield its power. That staff was forged long ago. Its creators would balk to here it used to defend the prize they sought to gain. They are long dead, as you have told me."

The serpent's powerful muscles pushed its great body up to greater heights, uncurling. Its head now swayed over the three adventurers. They tensed for the inevitable strike that never came.

"You may have the staff young one, but there must be a sacrifice for every bit of power gained in the world. Surely your master told you that."

"What do you want?" Teela shouted defiantly.

"I want a life. Choose. Will it be the father who raised you or the man you love?"

Adam heard the words, looked at Teela. Their eyes met and both immediately understood the others pain. It was no revelation to Duncan, and he had faced evil on too many occasions to be surprised by it now. His arm cannon fired, ripping open a man-sized hole in the serpent's side. He had one more shot like that and was loading it when he heard Adam yell in horror. His eyes found the hole he had made in the serpent, where now hundreds of snakes poured from the wound, dripping venom and shooting across the floor at their master's attackers.

Adam's tech-club was all but useless against the agile creatures. He swatted one, only to be bitten by another. He felt the fever of the poison almost immediately. The snakes recognized his infection and left him to die, focusing their attacks on the man with the blaster now.

Duncan reached into his belt and pulled out a blast-bomb. He had to throw it far enough away so that he wouldn't incinerate the three of them along with the snakes. He threw—experience prevailed.

The snakes erupted in fire. Their scales scorched the ancient stone ground. The serpent god felt each of their deaths a hundred times over. Snakes cannot wail, but this giant serpent smashed its own head into the rock in an attempt to stifle its pain.

Teela did not wait another second. Duncan watched her run in a supernatural blur to the altar he hadn't even seen behind the giant snake. There was the staff. He could see it clearly for the instant before it became part of the blur that was his daughter. Teela was beside him again when the giant snake recovered and set itself to strike the human invaders with its own venom.

"No," Teela screamed, covering the men with her body and brandishing the staff before her. The staff was as long as a man, wood wrapped in serpent's skin. It was topped with a serpent's head carved from a strange translucent rock of an amber color. The eyes of the staff glowed a fiery red as it protected its bearer. "I have the staff. Let us pass."

The serpent's wings unfurled again. It hissed loud and long, then began thrashing its enormous bulk against the walls of the room.

"It cannot directly attack us," Teela told her father, "so it will bury us with it."

"Then we have to get out of here. Adam's barely breathing."

Teela lowered the staff's head to Adam's bite. The wound disappeared. "Well, Adam is now immune to all snake poisons," Teela said wryly. "Now, get him up. We have to run."

Adam was on his feet, but not fast enough. The snake god was ignoring them now, content to pull the whole place down around itself. Teela felt a rush of power enter her again. She easily lifted Adam with one arm and gripped the staff in the other. Her body became a blur again as she rushed out into the caverns, her father struggling to keep up. They were deep into the mists again when they heard the ancient room finally shudder and collapse behind them.

"So, that was the Sorceress' great discovery. She controls external magic forces while I control them internally. That's why I was able to run like that and carry you so easily. Yet despite all the training the Sorceress put me through, I could barely light a fire with my magic." Duncan and Adam stared at Teela in rapt attention. "With the serpent staff I will be able to focus those external energies the same way the Sorceress does. That will allow me to harness and control the power of Castle Grayskull so that I can protect it until the next Sorceress is chosen."

"Well," Duncan said proudly, "you certainly surprised me back there. I thought we were all fighting our last battle."

Teela smiled, basking in her father's pride. Then she looked at Adam and said softly, "I guess we have a lot to talk about."

"Yeah," Adam agreed.

"You both should talk the first chance you get, but this isn't the time," Duncan interrupted. "First, we have to get out of Snake Mountain before sunset." They nodded. The group had already climbed out of Skeletor's laboratory. The Sorceress had been surprised to hear about the giant winged snake she had thought was long dead. She was visibly weak from her battle against the living waters of the well. She needed rest and time to restore her energy. For her, too, this wasn't the time. The group began the march out of the mountain, following the path they had taken to get in.

They reached the spot where they had entered Snake Mountain through the secret passage, but Duncan discovered that it had collapsed. "Maybe it was the giant snake's work?" Adam guessed.

"No," the Sorceress corrected. "We didn't even feel what that serpent was doing from Skeletor's laboratory. The shockwaves couldn't have reverberated this far above his lair. There's something else here. I can just sense it, avoiding my sight."

Skeletor smiled from his new room in Ram-Man's fort at the gates of Castle Grayskull. He watched everything from Lyn's crystal ball staff. Now was the time. With a whispered word that echoed louder and louder in the halls of magic, he commanded his minions from across the leagues of Eternia that separated Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain. Three rock golems rose to do his bidding.

The group inside Snake Mountain watched in stunned silence as the rock around them began to move. Again, Duncan was the first to move. "Run! Up the stairs! Run!" They jumped at his command. Adam lead the way. Teela carried the Sorceress easily, bounding up the broken stairs. Duncan and two guardsmen stayed behind to block the passage. Another guardsman lost his life before they had time to turn and run as well.

The golems rolled up the stairs, the massive bodies crumbling and reforming as they moved. The adventurers slowly outdistanced them. "Start looking for an exit," Duncan hollered ahead of himself.

Teela's quick eyes examined the halls and doors that met the stairs they were climbing. Her eyes had been trained to detect the use of magic, and could tell that each door was being sealed against their use. "There's nothing," she yelled back to her father.

Duncan dropped his last blast bomb behind him, and felt it go off with a satisfying rush of heat. The golems rolled through fire, unaffected by the blaze.

It was a testament to the heroes perseverance that they managed to keep running ahead of the golems for so long. Nearly thirty minutes of climbing steps brought them to Snake Mountain's summit, the mouth of its carved serpent head. From here the likes of King Hiss, Hordak, and Skeletor had looked over Eternia, hearts filled with a lust for power.

Adam was breathless. A part of him was thankful that there was no where left to run. "Well," he said, "it looks like we've been herded here. I wonder what for and by whom?"

The Sorceress looked out over Eternia and let the last traces of her unused power crawl over the world, forcing aside the magical mists that obscured her vision. She fell to the floor. "He-Man!" she cried. "Skeletor has returned." With that, the Sorceress closed her eyes and fell into a magical coma caused by her overexertion so far from the source of her power.

Nothing had prepared Teela and Adam for the Sorceress' revelation. They looked at each other with fear. The realization over what they were up against sunk in. They stood in Skeletor's fortress, the Sorceress had fainted, and the Sword of Power was locked away in Castle Grayskull. 

Duncan sprinted up the throat of the snake's head and saw the Sorceress collapsed. "Oh no," he said. He had no time to ask questions. The golems rolled up after him. Duncan, his mind always on his duty barked orders. "Form a protective half-circle around the Sorceress and the King!" His men rushed to obey, boldly presenting spears they had seen the rock golems brush away just yesterday.

A rock golem lumbered forward, snatching Duncan into its powerful arms while he organized the defense. He had the sense to bring his tech-mace crashing down on the golem's fist, shattering it. The golem dropped the warrior to the ground where he rolled away from his attacker but saw it looming over him again almost immediately. Teela dashed forward, rolled across the ground, and came up striking the rock golem with the flat of her hand. She screamed a word of power at the moment of impact. Duncan saw a flash of yellow as the golem's leg shattered. Teela's foot came around in a powerful kick that knocked the golem over on its side, where it fought to reform itself from the rock surrounding it.

Another golem had brushed passed two guardsmen, killing one and wounding another in an attempt to reach Adam. He straddled the body of the Sorceress protectively. In one hand he held his tech-club, the other held a gold ball covered with flashing microchips and energy wire. He hurled the ball out of the mountain's mouth. It hovered for a moment, emitting its electronic message, then dropped a league to the mountain's base and shattered.

Now the golem was on top of him, hands raised. Adam swung his tech-club, determined to take the blows and shield the Sorceress. The golem's fist came down, but was too late. Duncan fired his last rocket into the creature's back. Broken rock pelted Adam, cutting him in a dozen places. He shoved the pain into a corner of his mind and prepared to face the two remaining behemoths.

The rock golem that Teela had broken had collected enough material around itself to stand upright again, but not to walk. Its ruby eye focused on the man who had turned his back on it, Duncan. With silent understanding, the ruby flashed brightly, sending a beam of light streaking across the space and striking Duncan directly. The heroic warrior's mouth opened in a final silent cry of "I love you" to his daughter, then he disappeared.

Teela watched him vanish, powerless. He didn't disintegrate. He was simply gone. She turned her fury on the rock golem she had already damaged and struck again and again, unleashing the power she had fostered inside Castle Grayskull under the Sorceress' tutelage and the skill she had developed through years of combat. The rock golem shattered again and again, finally falling to the ground in an irreparable heap.

Across the snake's mouth, a guardsman had used his wits to temporarily stop the third rock golem. He had lead the thing against the snake's sharply carved teeth, almost dropping it to the mountain floor. The rock golem was incapable of strategy, but its power was simply too much for one guardsman to hold back with just a spear. Instead of trying to go around the guardsman, the golem simply pushed forward, rolling over the guardsman and crushing him beneath its weight.

Adam saw the golem careening towards him just as the other one had. The remaining guardsmen were either wounded or too far away to help. Again, Adam was saved—this time from a rocket fired behind him that hit with incredible accuracy against the ruby that gave the rock golem its power. The golem collapsed, just an arm's length away from the King and Sorceress.

"Good to see you, Stratos," Adam said to the man that flew to his side. Stratos was an inventor like Duncan who had developed a flight suit that allowed him to soar at heights with the greatest birds. He came from a race of people that could be identified by the shaggy hair that covered their body, a necessity of living in the mountains where the temperature never went above freezing. His only clothing was the flight suit, which consisted only of a few straps, two enormous wings on his arms, and a mask to protect his eyes. His people never wore shoes and had enlarged feet with thick skin to protect them from the harsh elements.

"I got your signal, Your Majesty. Glad to be of service. I see you guys were in a bit of a mess without old Stratos here." He was unswervingly happy.

"My father is gone," Teela told Adam.

"Hi, Teela. My your lookin' prettier ever' time I see ya'," the winged warrior told her.

Teela ignored him. She cried for the second time in only so many days. Adam held her. "We'll get him back, Teela. I promise. We'll get him back."


	5. Evil-Lyn's Truth FIVE

FIVE

Duncan woke up in his underclothes, chained to a heavy table. He knew he could move the table, or maybe even break the wood and pull the chain through, but two troglodyte guards made sure that he didn't move. They prodded him with their sharp spears at the slightest hint of movement.

One of the troglodytes disappeared through the main door. Duncan wondered if he could take down the one guard before he could cry out. He decided against it. The guard was keeping its distance and Duncan's hands were wrapped together in heavy chain. If they would just leave him alone for a few minutes. He looked around the room for something he could use. He recognized this place. It called out to him from somewhere in the back of his mind. Where was he?

The door opened again and Skeletor marched in triumphantly. The overlord of evil's dark face seemed more malevolent than ever, his pale visage more ghastly than Duncan had seen it in his nightmares. Beast Man followed behind him, snarling, his long arms almost dragging along the ground. Duncan had seen Beast Man die, but he was not surprised to see the henchman's return with his master.

Duncan attempted to stand, but the troglodyte guard smashed his knee with the butt of a spear, leaving Duncan kneeling on the ground. The base of Skeletor's Havoc Staff slammed into the ground in front on Duncan's eyes.

"Man-at-Arms," Skeletor growled, "The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure."

"Curse you, Skeletor. We defeated you once. We will do it again," Duncan spat defiantly.

"Of course." Skeletor nodded, circling his prisoner. "Do you know where you are?"

Duncan looked again. With the door open, more light streamed in from the outside. He recognized the small fortress they had built to protect Castle Grayskull.

"How?" he choked. "Where is Ram-Man?"

"Don't concern yourself with that, Man-at-Arms. Instead, you should be worried about your family, especially your daughter."

Duncan struggled against his chains. "Where is Teela? What have you done?"

"Let me be the first to congratulate you on the discovery of your long lost child. Evil-Lyn?"

Lyn strode into the room confidently. She had been preparing for this day for a long time. "Hello, Dad," she said, then kicked Duncan across the face. He fell over on his side.

"Evil-Lyn?" he spat. "What trick is this?"

"There's no trick," laughed Skeletor's hollow voice. "Evil-Lyn is your daughter, sacrificed at birth by the Sorceress. I saw in her the magic she would one day master and so I saved her, trained her, and have now brought her to you. The Sorceress has known all along."

"But why? It makes no sense, Skeletor."

"As payment!" Skeletor screamed. "Zodac punished her for loving you by demanding her first born child. The Sorceress tricked Zodac. She gave up Evil-Lyn without a fight, but kept her favored daughter, Teela. She never told you? Pity."

Duncan looked up pleadingly at Lyn. "It's true, Father. I have always followed Skeletor to ultimately get my revenge against my mother, the Sorceress."

"Evil-Lyn… Lyn, I didn't know," Duncan pleaded. "Whatever has happened, it can be fixed. Joining Skeletor is not the right way."

"It's far too late for that, Father." Lyn placed a hand softly on Duncan's shoulder. He looked up at her, questioningly, then felt the sharp burning of his skin as Lyn's hand magically burnt into his skin, searing skin and muscle. Duncan struggled against her, but couldn't pull away. She roughly pushed him down to lie on his side where she kicked him again. "You will be the bait for the mother and sister that I will kill."

Skeletor laughed, a long screeching laugh that forced Duncan to dig his nails into the ground beneath him. When he looked up again, they were both gone.

"Stratos, Mekaneck, this must be kept secret. No one in Randor can no that Skeletor has returned until the Sorceress is back on the throne of Castle Grayskull. One guard managed to escape from Skeletor's assault against our fort there, and his tale is not a good one. Skeletor has taken that fort and slaughtered our men. He stands on the threshold of his dream to take control of Castle Grayskull. What's more, it appears that he has already gathered his henchmen to him. Whiplash attacked the fort. No one knows what happened to Ram-Man, but I fear the worst. You are the only men available to help to me stop Skeletor now. I will not alert the army. We must take Skeletor by surprise, and fight him the way we did years ago." Adam spoke firmly with his friends gathered around him at his private meeting table. The Sorceress sat in the corner of the room, distracted by her weakness and feeling the weight of her failure. Teela sat beside Adam, her hand gripping the serpent staff tightly.

Mekaneck had been a close friend of Duncan's before a blast had nearly killed him. Duncan saved his life by giving him a mechanical neck that he could extend and retract at will. Mekaneck had added a large pair of enhanced goggles to go with the enhancement so that King Randor would accept him back into the army as his lead scout. 

Stratos, on the other hand, always pretended that he was there to fight for the fun of it, but he had seen the horrors that Skeletor could inflict on his own people and had vowed to stop the tyrant. His jests were just a cover up for his anger and fear.

"I think it goes without saying that we agree with you," Mekaneck said, his voice was nearly robotic.

"Teela," Adam said, turning the meeting over to her.

"First, thank you for help now. None of us wanted to be back in this position, but it's not hopeless. Skeletor cannot enter Castle Grayskull. The same shielded walls that protect the Eternal Palace were installed as a first line of defense around the castle. No magical or technological force can penetrate the walls that form a protective dome around Castle Grayskull now. That should by us the time we need to stop Skeletor." The two heroic warriors smiled. Finally, some good news.

"There's more," Teela continued. "The Sorceress cannot help us. Her power has been drained. What's more, this was to be the Sorceress' last journey. She meant to retire and pass Grayskull's protection to me. She will be unable to do that for another decade if we cannot get both of us inside Castle Grayskull within the next seventy-two hours."

Stratos laughed. "We can't fly anything into the jungles around Grayskull, certainly not without letting Skeletor know we're coming. You can forget about seventy-two hours."

"There is another way," Teela told him. "We will travel through Orko's realm and reemerge right at the castle's gate. Skeletor will not know we're there until it's too late."

"What about Man-at-Arms?" Mekaneck asked.

"We'll do what we can for my father," Teela told them. "Right now, we don't even know if he's alive." Teela's face betrayed her tormented thoughts.

Stratos let out a low whistle.

"That's all, gentleman," Adam said. "Let's get started."

Skeletor waited until it was dark to renew his attack against Castle Grayskull. He threw everything he could at the prismatic shield that didn't budge. Any more of his power would take time to build up, time he didn't have, and leave him weak for the upcoming battle. "Curse you, Sorceress. What new magic is this?"

Lyn appeared beside her master, seemingly materializing from the shadows of the trees. "I don't believe the Sorceress is to blame for this barrier, Lord Skeletor."

"Oh really. Then who else do you think has power enough to match my own?" Skeletor scoffed, gesturing grandly with his right arm.

"I believe this is the work of my father."

"Impossible," Skeletor said incredulously.

"I have seen a similar barrier through the eyes of my spies protecting the walls of the Eternal Palace. It is his invention—a technological barrier powered by inexhaustible magic."

Skeletor sneered. "It changes nothing. My power cannot break it, and so I know yours will fail just the same. I will torture that fool until he reveals to me the secret of the barrier. When I'm done, he'll be begging to turn it off himself." He took a step away from the small ledge he was standing on. Lyn stopped him.

"Wait," she said. "I may already know the way." She pushed past her gaping master to stand on the ledge he had just left.

Her hands raised to the sky, inaudible words of power whispered from her unmoving lips. Then she pointed. Her magic crawled through the air, unobtrusively sliding through the barrier the way air did, but doing nothing to break the barrier down. Skeletor's magic was like his mind. It forced the changes he demanded to take place. His magic was like a hurricane force. Lyn's was far more subtle. It was a soft breeze that stuck in the throat and choked the unwary. That breeze now glided to the top of Grayskull's towers, casually rolling along its battlements until it found what it was looking for—the device that created the barrier. Suddenly Lyn's hands danced around her body, the magic struck out and destroyed the little box. She wasn't always subtle.

They both watched as the barrier fell.

Teela opened the corridors of magic from the gardens of the Eternal Palace so that she would be surrounded by the natural powers she drew her power from. The five heroes entered a realm of swirling colors. Each of them stood on a floating disc that they would use to navigate through the dimension that had no ground, no up or down. Teela had warned them all that they must stay together and think only of going forward. It was easy to get lost in the strange realm. Everywhere they looked, swirling colors assaulted their eyes. Even Stratos, who had tested unstable flight machines at dizzying heights felt his stomach lurch once he floated into Orko's realm on his disc.

As soon as they entered the realm, the portal shut behind them with the sound of sucking air. Teela lifted the serpent staff into the air and then pointed it forward. The discs lurched forward suddenly, flying through the swirling colors. Images of solid objects in the madness skirted their vision, but none of them could make out what they were—something that looked like a tree, then maybe a tent flew by, then sheets caught in a wind. They could each hear voices in the distance though, mumblings but no words.

"Up!" Teela screamed. The discs obeyed her command, flying over what looked like a large rock spinning in the ether. 

Mekaneck's goggles were designed to enhance his vision. He could read the design on a flag coming through the city gate while standing at his post in the Eternal Palace. Now, this same enhanced vision was a curse. The goggles kept trying to lock on everything around him. Dizzy, he fell to his knees, sending the disc spinning away from the group. It was all he could do to hang on.

Adam was the first to see Mekaneck disappear into the swirling colors. "Teela," he cried. She shook her head. It was too late. The group shot through the portal Teela had waiting for them. The disc stopped on the other side, lowering their passengers to the ground.

"Adam, I'm sorry," Teela said. "I'll go back in and find him." She got back on the disc but was stopped by a strange little creature's emergence from the portal, pulling Mekaneck's disc in tow.

"Hello," the little man said. He floated above the ground in a long red robe that fell just longer than his thin blue hands. His head, which was just two glowing yellow eyes peering out of an empty black space over a blue scarf where his mouth should have been, was topped with a pointed red hat, bent at the top. His robe had a singular decoration, a black "O" that identified him among a race of people that looked otherwise the same.

"Orko?" Teela questioned.

"Of course!" Orko said cheerfully. "And I believe you already know my sick friend Mekaneck. I'm sure it will wear off soon, old buddy." Orko's voice was squeaky, like that of a giant mouse. "What's going on?" he asked as the portal shut behind him.

"Well," Stratos said gruffly, "no adventure would be complete without Orko.":

"My sentiments exactly," Orko agreed. "Whatever were thinking trying to get through my home without at least letting me know you were coming. I could have prepared a proper welcome at the very least."

"Getting through without letting you know was the general idea," Teela said sarcastically.

"Well, I…"

Orko was cut off by the Sorceress' warning. "Adam, Teela, the barrier is down!"


	6. Evil-Lyn's Truth SIX

SIX

"Sorceress," Adam put his hand on her shoulder. "Is it possible that the Spirit of Grayskull managed to hold Skeletor back, even without you inside?"

The Sorceress eyes fell to the ground. She couldn't remember ever being this weak. "No. It could have held back anyone but Skeletor. His power is too great." Her voice was wispy and sounded far away.

Adam's jaw tightened. "We have to get inside Castle Grayskull. I have to retrieve the Sword of Power." The Sorceress just nodded.

Mekaneck slid through the bushes to the clearing where the heroes waited. "Your majesty, Skeletor has left just a handful of troglodytes guarding the fort—Man-at-Arms and Ram-Man are inside."

"Are they alive?" Teela asked, the desperation clear in her voice.

"It looks like they have hurt your father Teela, but he is alive. Ram-Man may be dead. I didn't see him move at all."

Stratos clapped a fist into his left hand. "We've got to free them now."

"No," Adam said. Stratos shot him an angry look. Adam lifted his hand, signaling for him to calm down. "I want to free them too Stratos, but we can't risk Skeletor seeing us before we have the Sword of Power. Without He-Man, we don't stand a chance."

"No way," Stratos shouted.

"Keep your voice down." Teela grabbed him. "Adam's right. We need every bit of surprise we can use against Skeletor. There's nothing we can do for them now, and if we did, they would be too weak to help us fight." She let Stratos go and turned back to the group. "Adam, there is secret door behind Castle Grayskull that is invisible to all eyes but those of the Sorceress. It will open for her. If we try to go in through the drawbridge, Skeletor will know."

"All right—we go in the back door," Adam agreed. "Orko," he called. Orko floated down from a tree where Adam had asked him to look out for trouble. It also kept the exhaustless trouble-seeker occupied while they made their decisions. "Orko, you're going to stay here."

"But Adam, I'm the only one here who still has all their power…"

"Exactly. When Skeletor finds out that we're inside Castle Grayskull with him, he may use Man-at-Arms as a hostage. You have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Teela stared at Adam incredulously. "You're going to leave Orko here to free my father?"

"Yes, Orko and Stratos."

"All right!" Stratos cheered as quietly as he could. "I wouldn't want to have to fight inside an old castle anyway. This will give me a chance to spread my wings." He chuckled at his own joke.

Inside Castle Grayskull, Skeletor stood before a simple wooden door marked with an emblem designed to look like the Sword of Power. Inside, the room was no bigger than a small closet and held only a simple stone column with the Sword of Power thrust into it. But for all his power, Skeletor could not enter.

"Evil-Lyn!" he screamed. She was already beside him, anticipating his need. "You wiped out Man-at-Arm's barrier. I pried Castle Grayskull's drawbridge open with my power. Now this simple door blocks my way."

"Lord Skeletor, I believe that no power will be able to open this door. The inscription reads that the door will open only for the guardian of Grayskull. That would be either King Adam or the Sorceress," she said calmly. Skeletor hated when it was pointed out to him that he had missed the obvious. "There are two ways in though. We can either kill the Sorceress or find your missing half of the Sword of Power."

"Yes," Skeletor hissed. "I choose both. And our missing Sorceress should be here soon. What of my old sword? Where is it?"

"Your sword was split in two so that only one Sword of Power remained. But your power could unite the swords again."

"Evil-Lyn," Skeletor paused, "just tell me where?"

"One half is in the armory, where they keep the weapons of yesterday's glory."

"And the other half?"

"I do not know, Master." She locked eyes with Skeletor confidently. He struck her with an open hand, knocking her to the ground.

"Ten years, Evil-Lyn. You have had ten years to find out the sword's location. You are a failure." He looked down at her, enjoying the sight of the blood falling from her split lip. "I forgive you," he said, mocking her pain, then leaving the door to find the armory.

Behind Castle Grayskull, four heroes pushed through the heavy undergrowth that provided a natural defense against just this kind of invasion. So crucial were the plants to Grayskull's defense, that the castle magically protected them from fire and other natural disasters. The heroes stood in the small space between the wild jungle and the deadly moat where no plant dared to grow.

"This feels wrong," Mekaneck said. "This is the way Skeletor would try to get in. Heroes go in through the front."

"Only the Sorceress can find the door, Mekaneck. Skeletor wouldn't know where to focus his power if he tried to get in this way," Teela told him. "This entrance was designed for us."

"Well, I don't have to like it—and you're right—I don't see a door." Mekaneck was actually amazed that the door was invisible even to his enhanced vision.

"Sorceress?" Adam helped to carry her to the edge of the moat.

"There." She pointed her finger, and as she did, the door materialized before them. Even then, it looked impenetrable, thick stone covered with spikes. "Open," the Sorceress whispered.

The door slowly obeyed her, opening soundlessly despite the fact that it had gone unused for so long. The Sorceress sighed, and slumped further into Adam's arms.

"There's the door, but I doubt anyone but Teela could jump across the moat," Mekaneck observed.

"The bridge," the Sorceress gasped, "is invisible. Just have faith, and it will be there under your feet." Her eyes rolled back in her head. She was barely conscious now.

Teela brushed the Sorceress' shoulder assuringly with the tips of her fingers, and then walked across the moat with apparently nothing supporting her, denied even the sound of her boots clicking on the ground beneath her. She smiled back at them from inside Castle Grayskull and gestured with her arm that they should follow quickly. Adam lifted the Sorceress in his arms and carefully placed his foot where Teela had shown the bridge to be. He almost fell into the water. There was nothing there. "You can't test it, Adam," she told him. "The bridge senses your faith. You have to trust wholeheartedly that the bridge is there."

Adam's jaw clenched with determination. His heart betrayed his real fear, but the bridge held. He walked across quickly, not stopping to look behind him until he was safely on the other side.

"All right, Mekaneck, come on," Teela said.

Mekaneck's scanners were at full power, but he couldn't see any sign of a bridge. He knew he could never have faith in a bridge that his enhanced senses couldn't detect, so he had to do something drastic. He shut them off. 

Now blind, he marched across the bridge confidently, his foot feeling something solid beneath him. He was halfway across when he felt his right foot catch on something. Blindly, he pulled away. He heard voices calling him, but with his sensors off, he couldn't hear anything but a mumble inside the helmet. 

Searing pain suddenly washed over his body with volcanic force as something sliced open his left calf. And then he was falling.

He felt something slam against him, knocking him into the air and breaking several ribs. Then he roughly landed on his shoulder and felt the solid ground beneath him. Wasting no time, he switched his sensors back on in time to see Teela get up next to him. She had saved his life. F she hadn't acted so quickly, he would have fallen to his death in the Grayskull moat.

Standing on the invisible bridge was the creature who had sliced open his leg with a hideous claw and nearly killed him--Mer-Man.

"Even the beasts of the moat obey the ruler of the ocean, Sorceress," he gurgled. He stood sideways on the bridge, so that his back wouldn't be exposed to any of his enemies. In his hand was the wicked trident he used to command the ocean's creatures.

Teela joined him on the bridge, her serpent staff in hand. Something in Mer-man's throat clicked menacingly. He raised the trident, seemingly commanding the moat to bubble as its creatures started a feeding frenzy below the bridge. Then, he brought the trident crashing down on Teela's head like a club. She dodged to the side, but felt the power of the blow as it brushed passed her. Mer-Man had been training with the trident for years, and he had the strength of a great ocean shark. He kept it moving, allowing Teela no time to rest and counterattack. She dodged deftly. Jumping over his trident, blocking his thrust with her own staff, or crouching under a wild swing. Adam watched in awe of her quick movements. He loved her all the more for her independence. He saw her strategy. Mer-Man kept attacking her even as she backed up and lead him onto the solid ground so that the dangerous water was no longer under them. Mer-Man had entered his own feeding frenzy now. His mind was clouded with bloodlust.

He stabbed. Teela grabbed the trident as it thrust passed her. Mer-Man prepared to yank the trident back and pull Teela with it, finally impaling her on his sharp teeth. She knew he would try that. She only meant to slow him down for the second it took Mekaneck to slam his power club into Mer-Man' head. The fish man stumbled, fell to his knees. Defeated, his muscles jerked violently, flopping him into the air and then back into the moat where the water could slowly heal him.

"That was close," Mekaneck sighed. He tried to limp back to the bridge, the arm he had landed on hanging limply at his side, but Teela stopped him with a hand on his uninjured shoulder.

"You fought well, Mekaneck. We'll continue alone though. Guard our back."

Mekaneck nodded thoughtfully. "I guess I'll just stay here and make sure that Mer-Man doesn't try to come back and do something," he said. Teela smiled at him and moved back across the bridge. She gave him one last look, then shut the door. The secret entrance vanished immediately.

Inside, Adam put the Sorceress down. Once the door was shut, there was no light, just overwhelming blackness. "You did good out there, Teela," Adam said. "Mer-Man is one of Skeletor's mightiest warriors."

"It was too hard," she whispered into the darkness. "What are we going to do when we face the rest of them? For all my training, he might have beaten me."

"Teela, even when I was He-Man, I felt like each battle was hard. Grayskull gave me just enough power to win, and sometimes I really felt that it wasn't enough. No one wants to do this. It has to be done."

"Adam, Teela," the Sorceress called them. "My power is coming back to me. Skeletor is in the armory trying to find his broken weapon. Evil-Lyn is with him. Beast Man is here too—at the drawbridge."

"Sorceress, is that all of them?" Adam asked her.

"Yes. Skeletor is overconfident. He believes that you would never face him without the Sword of Power or an Eternian army at your back. Your courage will be his downfall."

Adam took a deep breath. He wondered himself if he had the courage to pull this off. Beast Man was a savage killer. Evil-Lyn was merciless and almost as powerful as Skeletor himself. The Sorceress needed time to recover. Skeletor would get his sword and be even more unstoppable. With one half in his hand he could find the second half that the Sorceress had hidden.

"We have to wait until you get your power back to stop Skeletor, Sorceress," Adam told her. "Only you might be able to challenge him."

"No. Once Skeletor has his half of the Sword of Power, the chamber will open for him and he'll have He-Man's sword as well. Then nothing I can do will stop him. You must go now."

Adam placed her gently against the wall and took his new war ax out of the straps on his back. "Follow the hall. It will take you behind the throne room, into the audience chamber."

"The audience chamber is right inside the drawbridge. That's where Beast Man is," Teela reminded her.

"I know," she said sadly. She reached out and softly touched Teela's hair. "I'm sorry."

"None of this is your fault. Rest the blame where it belongs—Skeletor."

"Let's go." Adam pulled Teela away from her mother. "We don't have any time. Skeletor must be stopped now."

Teela concentrated her power on the serpent staff and whispered a silent word of magic. The eyes of the staff lit brightly, lighting the way for the Sorceress' two champions.

The hall they traveled was small, just big enough for them to walk through single file. Mekaneck would have hated this, Adam thought. He was claustrophobic. The though made him smile. He hoped he would see Mekaneck and Man-at-Arms and the rest of his friends again soon.

"Here," Teela stopped him. "This is the end of the hall. There must be a way out." She felt along the wall, looking for a secret switch.

"Maybe there is no switch," Adam suggested. "Everything else is magic in Castle Grayskull. Why would this be different?"

"You're right." Teela prepared to cast some new magic, but Adam stopped her by placing his hand on the serpent staff she used to focus her power. She looked at him, confused.

His voice was calm now, no longer nervous. "Teela, whatever happens… You have to know… I mean, I want you to hear me say it now. I love you. I have loved since I was capable of loving." Her eyes shyly looked away for a moment, but she found the strength meet his gaze in the soft red glow of the magic. "I understand there's more to it than that though. I know you are like me, bound by your duty with so many depending on you."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"No, don't apologize. I think I love you more for it. You are so independent and strong—and beautiful." He leaned forward and kissed her the way he had always wanted to. She gave into him completely, releasing herself into the short time they had alone together before the uncertainties of the future opened before them like a chasm.

The kiss broke. They hugged each other tightly, each trying to pass on the their strength to the other, praying for the other's safety.

Then Teela stepped back and tapped the wall with her staff, her mouth opening in a silent command. The command traveled through the walls, recognized Teela, and silently opened the wall to her left.

Teela remembered what the Sorceress had said about Beast Man. She rushed out of the hall, appearing in the throne room behind the seat where the Sorceress usually sat to magically watch the events in the world outside of Castle Grayskull.

Adam followed her, moving in slow motion in comparison. He hadn't been here in a long time. The room was much smaller than his own audience chamber in the Eternal Palace. His chamber was decorated with tapestries and flags, and the furniture was the finest in the land. All of this was absent in Castle Grayskull. The room was simple stone, with no carpet and no decoration. They were standing on a dais, looking down a few steps onto a large room where people entered when the drawbridge was down, as it was now.

The Sorceress' chair was magnificent, wrought of a soft metal that Adam had seen no where else on Eternia. Behind the throne, next to where they had exited the secret passage, was a giant crystal hanging on the wall. In that crystal, the Sorceress could see anywhere on Eternia, maybe even beyond.

"No Beast Man," Teela said, noting the monster's absence. "The Sorceress said he would he here. That makes me more nervous than having to fight him now."

"I agree," Adam conceded, "but I'd rather not have to fight him at all."

"Yeah, maybe he heard we were coming and ran away," she joked.

The two of them walked quietly along the wall to the door that would take them to the stairs. Skeletor was downstairs, in the armory. The Sword of Power was upstairs.

Beast Man chose that moment to lumber in through the drawbridge. He wasn't used to castles and buildings. He wanted to be outside. Staying inside too long made him sick. 

He sniffed the air. The beast men of Sahar-iah had senses beyond those of humans. They were creatures of the jungle that relied on those senses to survive. Beast Man's senses had been heightened beyond even that of his people. He smelled something immediately, the mustiness from the released air of the secret passage and the smell of humans. Then he saw them, rushing for a side door.

Beast Man roared, an animal growl that startled the heroes who had been trying to sneak past him to the door before he noticed them. He hunched over and extended his claws menacingly, saliva dripped from his sharp fangs.

Teela didn't wait for Beast Man to make the first move. It took a moment for her to concentrate her energy into physical movement, but she was already prepared. Adam watched her seem to glide across the floor and strike Beast Man with her open palm right between his glaring eyes.

Beast Man was thrown back—only his enhanced agility saved him from falling dangerously. He was startled to feel his own blood running out of a gash on his face and stinging his eyes. He howled, a long and furious howl.

Teela darted forward again, determined to finish the fight. Beast Man was just as fast, and ready this time. His long arm darted out, knocking the serpent staff out of her hand and leaving long gashes across Teela's face. He tried to grab her, to pull her close so that he could maul the cursed human who had hurt him. Teela was nearly caught in her terror. Beast Man was in an animalistic fury, snarling ferociously and lashing out at her madly. Teela had been fighting Skeletor's warriors since she was fourteen though. She searched inside of her for the calm she needed to finish the fight.

Beast Man slashed her shoulder. She spun away before he could grab her. He lunged with both hands. Her right leg shot up, catching him in the jaw and knocking him to the ground. Beast Man rolled to his feet and leaped savagely at the female warrior. She brought the heals of her hands together and then shot her palms outwards while slipping between Beast Man's claws. She connected with his forehead, heard the sickening crunch of Beast Man's skull, and watched him fall to the ground.

She looked down at her enemy with remorse. She knew how Skeletor's magic worked. Beast Man wasn't entirely to blame for his actions. "Is he dead?" Adam asked from the door.

"No," Teela told him. Beast Man was twitching on the ground. He might survive. If they defeated Skeletor in time, she would come up and heal Beast Man and release him from Skeletor's magic.

With a booming a clap like thunder, the door to the stairs flew open. Lyn floated in, the heels of her high leather boots a foot off the ground, her cape blowing furiously behind her. In her hand was her favorite wand, with its crystal top. Her white hair was pinned at the top of her head and held in place by a warrior helmet decorated with jewels along an ornament shaped like an open fan.

"You're mine now," she said, exulting in the excitement of the coming battle.

Teela rolled across the floor and grabbed her serpent staff. In her youth, she would never have been a match for Evil-Lyn, now she had just a small chance of defeating Skeletor's most powerful minion. Her own victory wasn't her first concern though. Beast Man was down. Evil-Lyn was right in front of her. That left just Skeletor. Adam could get the Sword of Power. Surely she could hold Evil-Lyn off long enough for that, even if it meant her death.

"Adam!" she screamed. "Go!"

Adam looked Teela. He loved her. He didn't want to leave her to battle Evil-Lyn alone. Their eyes locked and he understood. There was nothing he could do against the witch. He had to get the Sword of Power.

Adam darted the last few feet to the door and went through, slamming it shut behind him and racing up the stairs.

Lyn just smiled. The crystal on her wand glowed, she shut her eyes, and sent the image of Adam's escape to her master.

"Face me, Evil-Lyn," Teela challenged her.

Lyn's eyes opened slowly, sizing up her opponent. "Yes," she said. "But before we fight, there are a few things you should know. First, your father is not dead. I'm not going to kill him until I've skinned you alive and then made your fleshless body rip itself apart in pain. Then, once I've allowed you to die, I will let your father gaze into my crystal and experience everything you went through himself. He will be horrified, but he'll watch. Then, only then, will I sacrifice him to the darkest powers."

"You'll do none of it. I'll kill you today!" Teela shouted.

"Will you? I know it means nothing to me to be cursed as a kinslayer, but what about you?"

"What?" Teela dropped her defensive stance, confused.

"You don't know, do you? Then let me tell you. I am your sister. Your father is my father. The Sorceress is my mother, same as you, but she threw me away—gave me to the dark powers she upset with her forbidden love affair. Skeletor saved me. I would have died—he didn't care about that though. He waited to see if I would fight for survival myself—to see if I had the magic power that was my birthright. All he wanted was to use me as a weapon against my mother. And all along, that was fine with me."

Teela was taken aback, stunned. She pleaded, "Evil-Lyn, no one knew. You know that. I'm sure there's more to this than Skeletor has told you."

"I'm sure there is too. But I'm also sure that the Sorceress knew and did nothing. You grew up with a family in a royal palace. I grew up surrounded by creatures who saw me as a play toy. It certainly didn't help matters that I was a girl. Those years of my life were more torturous than anything I could put you through, but I'll try, I promise you that." She raised her free hand, shooting purple lightning in an arc that raced across the space between the two sisters and left a black mark on the space Teela had been standing.

Teela's speed had barely saved her life. "I see you have grown more powerful, Sister," Lyn spat. "You can't dodge lightning forever." More shot from her fingertips. Teela moved again. Lyn was right, she couldn't dodge forever. She had to rely on the Sorceress' other training. Another bolt flew through the air. This time, Teela concentrated her power in the serpent staff. The lightning struck, but Teela's magical shield held against the simple spell.

"Very good," Lyn cheered. "I am pleased to see that killing you won't be just child's play for me. I know. Let's have a race. We'll see if I can kill you before Skeletor kills King Adam. You see, I sent him a little message right away to let him know that the King was coming." She laughed maniacally.

Teela looked at the door Adam had just disappeared through. He didn't know that he was walking into a trap.

Skeletor was stalking through the ancient dungeons when Lyn sent him the pictures of Adam's escape. The dungeon in Castle Grayskull was small, and its bars were ineffectual for holding prisoners, except that anyone trapped in the dungeon by the Sorceress was held in a catatonic state, without even the will to escape. It smelled like death. Enemies of Castle Grayskull had wasted away and died here in the ancient history of the castle.

Beyond the dark dungeon was another ancient door that held the weapons of ages long past in perfect preservation. That was Skeletor's goal now. Then, Lyn assaulted his mind with images of his arch enemy. Skeletor was much angrier at her than Lyn guessed he would be. Adam was too close to the sword, and Lyn had stopped to settle a personal vendetta instead of capturing Grayskull's champion while she had the chance. He would square accounts with her later. Adam had to be stopped immediately.

Skeletor looked around, remembered something Lyn had told him when he had escaped from Limbo. The dungeon was bare, just a few bones—it took Skeletor just a minute of searching to find what he was looking for. Upon first inspection, it appeared to be just a pile of scrap metal, but Skeletor recognized his own handiwork. He had used his magic to graft these pieces onto flesh and created the henchman Trap-Jaw. He would live again.

Skeletor raised his Havoc Staff and spat horrible arcane words that seemed to crack like glass breaking in the stillness of the dungeon. The pile of forgotten metal lifted into the air, swirling around the energies of Skeletor's magic. Tiny pieces of dead flesh from all over the dungeon joined the spell to reawaken Skeletor's master of machinery. His body was black iron. One arm was a hand that could be used to do the complicated technical work Skeletor needed. The other hand was missing. In its place, Trap-Jaw could attach a variety of weapons. For now, he had to make do with the weapon he had been using when the Sorceress defeated him, a long sharp hook. His head was a rusted helmet and a sharp rusted metal jaw that could chew through metal, which he ate for sustenance. His eyes were human though, sick yellow eyes that stared out of dead greenish skin. Skeletor admired his creation for just a moment. He was getting weak now. He needed the sword. He waved his hand, sending Trap-Jaw through the corridors of black magic to intercept the young King before he could find the Sword of Power.

Then he swiftly crossed the dungeon, no longer pounding his staff—he was dragging it behind him. He paid the price for his black magic, further decomposing his own body in exchange for the unholy power.

He came to the armory, leaning against the door, his hand blindly groping for the knob. The door was heavy. He dropped his Havoc Staff and put his whole weight behind the door. It slowly swung inward, revealing its ancient treasure, a room of weapons.

The weapons were old. They had been imbued with power by one of Castle Grayskull's first Sorceresses and used by humans to defeat the snake men. Just a scratch could kill one of Eternia's former dominant race. They remained here in case they were ever needed again.

Skeletor ignored them. There would be time enough to explore the secrets of Castle Grayskull once it was his. Sitting in the corner, not even hung on the wall, was half of his old sword. His sword had been just half of the original Sword of Power as it was. Only with the swords together, would Grayskull give itself to a male ruler. Now, he had just a fourth of the celestial weapon. He snatched it from the corner. It was a broken weapon, useless in combat, but Skeletor could already feel his power flooding back to him. The sword made it possible for Skeletor to turn the trickle of his normal power into a tidal wave.

He held the sword up, inspected it. Then his eyes glowed with fierce red power and his bottom jaw detached from his face, hanging only by a thin tendon in the back. Putrid air welled up from Skeletor's perpetually dying body and wrapped itself around the sword. It was transformed. The weapon's hilt was now a ram's head, matching Skeletor's Havoc Staff. The blade was like shiny new steel, but so much more powerful.

The mad conqueror stalked out of the armory. He knew where the other half of his sword was now. This sword acted like a compass, pulling him to it. He stopped. 

His Havoc Staff was gone. Who? He didn't give it a second thought. With the sword complete and Adam dead, it wouldn't matter anyway.

Adam rushed up the stairs to Grayskull's upper floor. He skipped steps, careening recklessly towards the sword. Without it, Teela was dead, he was dead, his friends, his people…

The door to the hall from the stairs was smashed. No doubt Skeletor had gotten impatient with the lock. All the better, Adam thought. What would he have done if the door had still been locked?

Then he was standing in the Hall of Secrets, where all of Castle Grayskull's lore was kept. Each door lead to a different mystery. Even he, as He-Man, had not been privy to what lay behind most of the doors. He ignored them now. He raced down the hall. Unlike the other places in Grayskull, this hall was wide and long, his steps echoed across the stone walls. He was almost there when he saw a shadow detach itself from the wall and become real. Trap-Jaw appeared before him.

Trap-Jaw would have stopped even He-Man. He was a deadly opponent.

Adam pulled out his new ax and held it in front of him threateningly. "Back away, Trap-Jaw," he warned.

Trap-Jaw's mind had been shattered by his awakening. He had only one thought, which he voiced now. "Kill," he screeched with a voice like scraping metal.

Adam ran forward, trying to bring the full force of his ax down on Trap-Jaw before the evil henchman could attack. Trap-Jaw's hook arm had far more reach than the King's. It shot forward with inhuman speed and sliced Adam's left tricep open. The right arm carried the blow through, but not with enough power, it glanced off Trap-Jaw's heavy metal body, just gashing the unfeeling surface.

Trap-Jaw's other hand reached out, trying to grab the King's right arm. Adam jerked back just in time, just keeping his balance. He circled around Trap-Jaw cautiously. The henchman watched him move, but did not leave his place in front of the door.

How do I beat him? Adam thought. What would Man-at-Arms do? Adam wanted to run, to find a better place to fight, but time was precious. He had to stop Trap-Jaw here. Trap-Jaw lunged forward, slicing through the air with his heavy hook. Adam dodged left, watched the arm slowly retract.

Blood poured down his arm freely. He knew he would be dizzy with its loss soon. He put himself in front of Trap-Jaw and waited. The hook shot out again, just as Adam had hoped. He lifted his left arm and used its flesh as a shield. The hook dug in, catching bone. The pain was all but unbearable. Adam's right arm brought the ax down on the sensitive joint where Trap-Jaw attached his tools. Wire and metal snapped at the pressure from the heavy ax. It had been sharpened using laser beam technology by Man-at-Arms and given to the King as a gift. It bore the iron cross of He-Man on one side and the star of Randor on the other.

Adam fell to the ground, nearly blacking out from the pain. The hook had stuck in his arm. He pulled at it, but couldn't get it free—the pain was too much. "Kill," screeched Trap-Jaw, stepping closer and raising an iron leg to stomp the human.

Adam kicked with both legs at Trap-Jaw's standing foot. He fell with an enormous, booming crash. Now they were both on the ground. Trap-Jaw's metal body was heavy and slow. Adam was up first. He brought the ax down on Trap-Jaw's neck. The King was in so much pain that the blow wasn't powerful enough to sever the henchman's head, but it did drop him back to the ground. The King fell against the wall, dropped his ax beside him, desperate now to get the weight of the hook out of his arm. It seemed to be ripping more flesh with every move he made. The hook finally gave, taking more skin and muscle with it. Adam's left arm hung at his side—dead.

Trap-Jaw was up just in time for Adam to slam him back to the ground. This time the King's fury drove the ax through Trap-Jaw's helmet where it stayed, stuck, when Trap-Jaw fell to the floor. Trap-Jaw was a creature of magic. He wasn't dead, but his brain couldn't control the body any longer. It writhed on the ground at Adam's feet. He turned away from it.

In front of him now was the simple door marked with the symbol of a sword. Adam prayed silently that the door would open for him.

It did. The Sword of Power stood in its stone prison, waiting for him. He gripped the broadsword's hilt, long lines jutting out and turning at odd angles. He pulled, and the sword was free.

Adam stepped into the hall, dizzy with loss of blood, and nearly blacking out from the pain in his arm. He lifted the Sword of Power and spoke the words. "By the power of Grayskull, I have the power."

And he did. The power rushed into him. He felt it, but it felt different somehow. He was used to his whole body changing. That didn't happen this time. But the power did heal him, as it had never had to before. He felt a fire in his left arm that was tissue reattaching and muscle growing where it had been torn out. Then, his clothes melted away and were replaced by the vest of Grayskull's champion, four straps that crossed his torso and met in an iron cross on his chest. His traveling pants and greaves were replaced with barbaric hide shorts, and his fine leather boots with thick hide hunting boots. He looked down at himself. He really hadn't changed. He still looked like Adam. Or had he always looked like He-Man?

Trap-Jaw broke his concentration. The fiend had somehow survived and wrenched the ax out of his head. He was now lunging at He-Man, screaming, "Kill!".

He-Man couldn't help but smile. How difficult this had all been just moments ago. He pulled back his right fist and let it fly.

Trap-Jaw crumbled to the ground, broken.


	7. Evil-Lyn's Truth SEVEN

SEVEN

Outside the castle, Stratos and Orko had their signal. Castle Grayskull's eyes lit with the fury of Adam's summoning. He had retrieved the Sword of Power.

"Let's go get our good buddies out of there," Stratos cheered.

Orko's whole body nodded in agreement. "Right." He paused and brought one finger to scratch his invisible head. "How do we do it?" he asked.

"We attack!" Stratos cheered again, leaving the clearing and soaring into the air without another word.

"Oh, of course." Orko said. "Good plan." He floated after Stratos toward the captured fort.

Two troglodyte guards watched Stratos soar into the air. They mistook him for a giant bird, only realizing what was happening when he swooped down on them and dropped a bomb that sent them flying into the jungle.

The explosion brought half a dozen more of the lizard men out of the fort. They brandished their crude spears furiously at the enemy flying beyond their reach. Stratos had one blast-bomb and on smoke-bomb left. He prepared to swoop down and fire again.

Suddenly, Orko erupted from the trees in front of the small lizard men. "Ha-choo," he said, waving his hands at the troglodytes. There was a puff of magical glitter, then the troglodytes fell to the ground, asleep.

Stratos landed beside him. "That was too easy," he said.

"I agree. These guys have gotten soft. Let me at Skeletor." Orko swung his skinny fist dramatically, spinning himself around.

Stratos ignored him, approaching the fort door cautiously. "You stay here," he advised Orko.

"You need me," Orko said indignantly.

"You're right," Stratos agreed. "I need you to stay here and yell if you see anyone coming."

"All right," Orko conceded. "But hurry."

"That's the plan." Stratos entered the dark fort. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust. His people could see almost as well in the dark as they could in the day if given a chance to adjust to the lighting.

He was standing in small corridor that was used by the guardsmen as a place to shoot through small holes placed in intervals along the wall. There was another door that lead further into the fort. It was partially opened already, so he just nudged it forward, expecting an attack. Nothing.

He pushed the door open the rest of the way. This was where the men stationed here slept and ate. The room had three occupants. Duncan was still attached to the table by a thick chain. A hulking warrior was lying in the corner. Stratos guessed correctly that it was Ram-Man, but he couldn't tell if he was dead or alive. And one troglodyte had been left behind to guard the prisoners.

Stratos smiled. He took a step toward the guard. The troglodyte screamed a hideous reptilian scream, then bolted for the door. Stratos stepped aside, allowing the troglodyte to pass. "One coming your way," he hollered through the door to Orko.

The troglodyte saw Orko and then jumped into the jungle, disappearing into the trees. "All gone," Orko hollered back.

Stratos was bending over Duncan. He noted that the old warrior's shoulder was badly burnt, and there seemed to be several more recent cuts dripping blood down his left leg. 

"Stratos," the general said wearily. "I thought this was the end."

"No way," Stratos assured him. "Teela and King Adam are inside, and he has the Sword of Power."

"Teela? Inside? No! She must not confront Evil-Lyn!"

"Relax, Man-at-Arms. He-Man is in there now. She'll be fine."

"No!" Duncan thrust aside Stratos hand. His chain had been cut, but its remnants still hung from his foot. He pushed past Stratos, through the fort door, and hobbled towards the drawbridge of Castle Grayskull.

"Hello," Orko said, seeing his old friend.

"Not now, Orko," Duncan growled, limping towards the castle's entrance.

"Same old Man-at-Arms." Orko shrugged. He considered following his most-grouchy-friend-ever when something caught his eye down the path. He thought he saw one of those troglodytes. Boy, they would be sorry. Orko pushed up his sleeves (they promptly fell back to their place) and floated down the path.

Inside, Stratos bent over Ram-Man's still body. He smiled. The big man was breathing, so he was alive, but there was some kind of energy shield around his body. They locked eyes. Stratos guessed that the shield prevented the otherwise near invincible warrior from moving. How did he break a magic shield? Even though it was Ram-Man, he didn't dare explode his last blast-bomb. Orko! Stratos winked assuringly at Ram-Man and ran out to find Orko.

Meanwhile, the diminutive wizard came to the spot in the jungle where he had seen movement. He drifted forward to the path's edge. "Hello? Surrender?" Orko suggested.

Suddenly, a long, muscled tail shot out from the foliage, hitting Orko squarely and sending him flying into the treetops on the other side of the path. Extremely ruffled, but otherwise unhurt, he flew back down the path to warn Stratos. Whiplash sprung out, his claw grabbing Orko by his robe.

He pulled the wizard in and wrapped his long tail around Orko three times, squeezing until there was very little left of the shrieking magician.

Stratos arrived just in time to see Orko disappear into the coils of Whiplash's tail. He lifted off the ground and flew towards Whiplash. Whiplash smiled, confident that his armored body could handle anything the old warrior could hit him with.

Stratos poured on the speed, covering the distance in seconds. He pulled up at the last instant, Whiplash's claws just missing him. Stratos dropped his last bomb. Whiplash was thrown back, his armored hide absorbing most of the impact, but he was definitely hurt.

Orko felt the coils release just slightly. It was enough. His body was barely physical anyway. He turned to face his captor. "Now sleep, Whiplash. Ha-choo." The sparks lit again. Whiplash blinked, then backhanded Orko, knocking him again into a tree.

Orko spun out of the trees, hardly hurt but feeling worse than useless. "Orko!" Stratos shouted. "Ram-Man needs you inside."

Ram-Man? Orko shot down the path as fast as he could. Whiplash ran after him on all fours, would have caught him again, except that Stratos chose to drop his smoke-bomb just then. The giant lizard man stopped, choking and too stupid to just run through the smoke. He lashed out wildly. Stratos floated above him, smiling. Occasionally he swept down to pick up a rock or a tree limb and drop it where he imagined Whiplash's head would be.

Orko floated next to Ram-Man, eyeing the shield suspiciously. No problem. He rubbed his bony hands over the shield and asked it politely to go to his realm where magic could do whatever it wanted and it could have a jolly good time. The shield grumbled, wavered in consideration, then agreed, slipping into Orko's dimension. It had gotten bored guarding the big man anyway.

Ram-Man sat up immediately. "I can't believe this," he growled. Orko had rarely known the good-natured Ram-Man to growl.

"What happened?" Orko asked.

"I thought I had drowned. But guess what, turns out the armor defends against that too—at the last minute. Go figure." Ram-Man shrugged.

"Wow! Your, like, a human submarine!" Orko squealed. Ram-Man looked at him in confusion. Orko shrugged. "They don't have those on Eternia yet," he explained. Suddenly his eyes went as big as saucers. "Oh! Stratos is outside battling Whiplash. He nearly squished me—Whiplash, that is. Not Stratos. That would be weird. Stratos saved me."

"Whiplash, huh?" Ram-Man stepped outside.

Whiplash, in no danger from what Stratos was carelessly dropping on his head but getting angrier by the second, had the bright idea to spin his tail furiously to get rid of the smoke. It worked, the smoke had already begun to dissipate into the atmosphere anyway. He smiled at his cleverness when the smoke was finally gone.

The last thing he saw was Ram-Man flying at him head first. Then everything went black.

It was raining inside Castle Grayskull. Teela had summoned the elements to help her defeat her sister. Lyn couldn't afford to waste anymore power floating. She was on the ground, hiding behind a powerful shield that protected her from the hail and lightning. She had chosen to launch her attack against Teela's mind. Invisible demons seemed to assault Teela from every side.

Teela had gone through drills like this with the Sorceress. She focused through the imaginary enemies and concentrated on Evil-Lyn. The witch wouldn't expect a physical attack after fighting with sorcery for so long. Teela darted forward, leaving her mind vulnerable for just an instant. She felt the fire of the attack, shattering her will, but she had just enough force to strike Lyn's shield and shatter it. Lyn toppled to the ground, Teela fell backwards, the demons in her head vanished, and the storm dispersed.

They both gasped, fighting for air. "Damn you," Lyn cursed. "You've had everything your whole life. I want this. You've been loved and cared for, Teela. But I have something you're only now coming to understand in your own life. I hate. I have hate. I am hate. I hate you!" 

She raised her crystal wand again, slamming Teela with a magical wall of force over and over again. Teela threw up defense after defense, but they crumbled against the display of raw power, and Lyn didn't seem to be tiring. Teela shuttered as the pure force broke through her defenses and slammed her back to the ground. After that, it struck over and over again. Teela felt like her bones were being ground into dust. Blood poured from her nose and ears. She gasped for breath.

Lyn had beaten her. This defeat was the most bitter thing Teela had ever tasted. Her tears mingled with her blood. She thought of Adam. She loved him. She knew she did, but she had felt responsible for so many things bigger than herself.

Lyn came forward to stand over her defeated sibling triumphantly. Teela looked closely at her for the first time. She could see it now, so close to death. This was her sister—there was no doubting that now. She could sense it clearly. And she knew that her sister would kill her now.

Then Teela heard the voice she had always associated with love and safety from some place in the distance behind her.

"Stop, Lyn," her father said. And she did. No one was more shocked than she.

She bit her lower lip, frustrated with her sudden weakness. She shoved it away, back into the dark place where it had laid dormant her whole life. She glared at Duncan. "A family ruin? How quaint. I'm glad you're here, Father. You're just in time to see your cherished daughter die. First her, then you, then my whore mother."

It was all Teela could do to stay awake. She needed to stop Evil-Lyn. Father didn't know what he was getting into. Evil-Lyn had never been like this before.

"Lyn, I'm sorry—for more things than I can voice now, no one knew. It would have been different if we would have known. I know you'll never believe that, but let your sister go. Sate your lust for vengeance on my death, but let her..."

"The Sorceress knew!" Lyn screamed, cutting Duncan off.

"No, Lyn. Something's gone horribly wrong, but the Sorceress never knew you were her daughter. Think. Who told you all this? The Lord of Lies? Skeletor himself? Lyn, for all your corruption, you are one of the smartest women alive today. You know Skeletor is the master of trickery. You can't go on believing his word alone on this."

Lyn was shocked to feel tears welling up in her eyes. She had thought those tears were long dead. She pushed them away. It was easier to hate. That force had driven her her entire life. She didn't even know how to let it go. She wouldn't be judged or punished by these hypocrites.

"You're probably right, Father, but it's too late now." She summoned the wall of force again, this time slamming it into her already weakened father. He fell to the ground, rolled, grabbed Teela's serpent staff and whipped it at Lyn's scowling figure.

The spell died on her lips. The staff, thrown with the passion of a father protecting the life of his child, slid through Lyn's defenses and struck her with enough force to knock her to the ground, stunned.

Duncan crawled, on hands and knees to his long-missing daughter. Lyn growled a feral, dangerous growl and tried to physically lash out at him. Duncan was one of the best hand to hand fighters in the kingdom; he easily dodged the inexperienced brawler's attack, slid into her exposed body, and sadly struck the side of her head with an open chop. Lyn fell, unconscious.

"I'm sorry," he whispered over her.

"How touching," came a hollow voice from the staircase.

"Skeletor," Duncan stood on wobbly legs. He almost laughed at himself. An old, broken man versus the Overlord of Evil? It was preposterous.

Skeletor walked into the chamber, practically ignoring Duncan. "There it is," he said. "How did I miss it before?" The other half of his sword now decorated the top of the Sorceress' throne. A trophy? Skeletor was not amused. 

Duncan had no idea what Skeletor wanted, but he knew it couldn't be good. He boldly placed himself between Skeletor and the throne.

Skeletor finally took notice of him. "Fool," he said, as he waved his hand and sent Duncan flying into a stone wall. Duncan felt his right shoulder disconnect, then landed heavily on the stone floor. Skeletor ignored him, continuing toward the throne.

He-Man's deep, booming voice behind him stopped Skeletor dead in his tracks. "Skeletor, when will it ever end? I'm going to finish you now like I should have done years ago."

The evil warlord spun around. The heroic warrior stood beside Teela, muscles bulging, shining with a radiant glow of health. It sickened Skeletor. "He-Man? So the boy and the man are one now. Your friends are dead. Our battle will destroy this place, He-Man."

"Your Havoc Staff is gone. You have only a piece of the sword. Skeletor, prepare to find the death your body has longed for."

He-Man quickly covered the distance between himself and his arch-nemesis. The Sword of Power came crashing down over Skeletor's head. Skeletor lifted his blade, deflecting the attack, but the sheer power drove him to the ground. He cast a spell that turned him into a shadow, slid across the floor, and materialized next to the throne.

He-Man wasted no time. He bounded up the steps after him. Skeletor raised a hand and surrounded He-Man in the same shield that had kept Ram-Man hostage.

The evil mastermind grabbed the last piece of his sword from the throne. It was as broken as the first half had been and he didn't have the time or the energy to fix it now.

He leaped down the stairs, preparing to thrust his sword into He-Man's suspended form.

He-Man pushed his muscles against the constricting shield. The celestial power always gave him as much strength as he needed for any task, but it had to be made aware of the task first. It was in that dangerous moment that He-Man was vulnerable. Seconds passed. He-Man felt the power. He pushed, the shield burst, and Skeletor thrust. He-Man rolled backward just in time. Skeletor pulled his blade back and lifted a hand. Lightning darted from his fingers.

He-Man fell, his muscles on fire with the pain of their sudden forced spasms. He was fighting the battle all wrong. It had been a long time. Skeletor's sword came down again, drawing blood with a shallow cut. He-Man kicked upwards to gain some time before Skeletor's next attack. Luck was on his side. The boot connected. Skeletor's brittle ribs snapped. "Ooooooh!" he screamed.

He-Man stood back, lifted the Sword of Power, crying out, "By the power of Grayskull." The sword changed, the hilt splitting so that the handle crossed itself.

Skeletor lived daily with the pain of a broken body. The new pain of his smashed ribs wasn't enough to stop him. He fired another bolt of lightning at He-Man, who he imagined was defenseless, standing in the open. The sword, now ready, absorbed the magic, captured it so that it couldn't return to Skeletor. 

The Overlord of Evil snarled and threw up a wall of force to block He-Man's next sweeping attack. The sword cut through that too, absorbing it.

Next, Skeletor summoned tornado winds, but He-Man's sword unwrapped the spell into little more than a breeze. Now, Skeletor could feel that his magic was not returning to him. If only he had his staff! Sometimes his Havoc Staff could warp the powers of He-Man's sword. Without it, the battle was futile.

Skeletor changed tactics. He created a boulder from the tiny materials on Grayskull's floor and levitated it not over He-Man, but over Teela. He-Man leaped across the room and exploded the boulder with a swipe of his sword.

I'm still on the defensive, he thought. I've got to bring this fight to Skeletor before he gets lucky.

Skeletor had other ideas. He had bolted for the drawbridge. Once outside of Castle Grayskull, he could teleport to safety.

He-Man charged after him. Skeletor didn't get far anyway. Orko and Stratos stood in his way. Ram Man had stayed behind to watch for more enemies at the fort.

Skeletor lashed out with his power blindly. He-Man's sword pulled even that spell away from him.

"Do you want me to put him to sleep?" Orko asked.

"How about a permanent sleep?" Stratos suggested.

Skeletor, cornered on the drawbridge looked for his only means of escape. He flung his body into the moat. He-Man tried to catch him, but failed. The moat gurgled. The fish bubbled. Skeletor was gone. He-Man had no doubts that going in after Skeletor would mean certain death. It probably meant the same for Skeletor.

He had to find the Sorceress.

He-Man didn't have far to look. The Sorceress was sitting on her throne, looking as young and regal as she had always looked. She had emerged from the secret passage that Adam and Teela had used what seemed like days ago. 

"He-Man, your victory today has been one of your finest. I am sorry to have failed my watch and brought this down upon all of you." The Sorceress' voice was sad and low.

"Sorceress, you cannot blame yourself for the actions of madmen whose minds are chaos and unpredictability. None of us could have foreseen his escape from Limbo," He-Man assured her. 

The Sorceress stood. "It may take us months to figure out how he freed himself, but we will uncover his tricks, as we always have. And besides, we did manage to capture his Havoc Staff." She pointed to a corner where the staff now rested. She had seen Skeletor enter the armory. Powerless to stop him, she did the only thing she could, stole his favorite arcane tool.

The Sorceress spent the rest of the day sealing Castle Grayskull against another attack. She healed Teela and Duncan. It would be weeks before they would be completely back to normal. Teela herself would feel the pain of this battle as a reminder for years to come, and Duncan already had plans for a partial tech-suit to ease the burden of his torn limbs.

Trap-Jaw was dispelled by the Sorceress once again. This time, the parts of his body were cast into the moat. Beast Man and Whiplash were set free after the Sorceress stripped them of Skeletor's power. Beast Man looked lost and confused, with no memory of what had happened to him since the night of the ritual. With the Sorceress' guidance, he summoned a winged beast to carry him across the leagues back to his home in Sahar'iah. Whiplash ran into the jungles. Without Skeletor's power, he couldn't retreat to his former lair where he had mistreated a tribe of troglodyte slaves.

Once Skeletor's other henchmen had been taken care of, He-Man brought Lyn up from the dungeon to face the Sorceress. Her helmet had fallen off at some point during her capture, and her long white hair now cascaded down her back, making her look all the more graceful.

"Lyn," her mother said from the throne, "you are my daughter. Skeletor did not lie to you about that. Zodac, who has no allegiances but his own, stole you from me before I ever knew you. He gave you to Skeletor. I can't imagine why, but you must believe me."

"Liar," Lyn spat. "Lies! You threw me away."

"That makes no sense, Lyn," Teela told her.

"Nothing I say will change your mind, so let me show you." The Sorceress then descended from her throne, all the beauty of her power surrounding her. She bent over and kissed her daughter on the forehead for the first time.

Lyn was flooded with feelings she had never felt. She saw the Sorceress, giving birth alone. Zodac came. "I'll help you or you can die," he had told her. "The celestial forces you were supposed to be guarding during your indiscretion demand a sacrifice."

"Anything," the Sorceress cried in pain. She could feel the life being ripped from her. It felt like some demon had possessed the life growing inside of her and was trying to rip her open. She was on the floor. Blood dripped from her ears and nose, dribbled out of the corner her mouth, and soaked the ground beneath her. "Anything," she repeated in a horrifying shriek.

"So be it," Zodac said. Suddenly, the pain stopped. The Sorceress slept, and when she woke, Teela lay beside her. Zodac was no where to be seen. The Sorceress believed that Zodac had simply saved her and her child. She assumed that the sacrifice had been her pain. She could not have imagined the horrifying truth.

"Noooo," Lyn wailed. It was too simple. She needed to hate someone. She hated this Zodac. She would destroy him.

"No, daughter. Your destroying days are over." The Sorceress said, as if reading her daughter's thoughts. She slowly returned to her throne, but did not sit. "You may go wherever you like. You may even stay here with me or return to your hideout in the jungles of Sahar'iah."

Lyn looked up at her mother, astonished. The fool woman didn't realize that nothing had changed in Lyn's mind. She needed blood to make peace with what had happened to her.

The Sorceress seemed to sense her thoughts again. "You must find a new way to deal with your anger, my sad daughter. When I kissed you, I stole your power. The magic is no longer yours."

Lyn's eyes went wide. Her thoughts fell into herself where she searched for the magic that had been her only comfort since birth. She scratched at the empty void inside of her. "No! No! You can't do this to me. No!" Lyn lunged for the Sorceress. He-Man caught her. Despite all of her furious anger, there was nothing she could do to break his grip. "No! No!" she continued to scream, despair exploding through her.

The Sorceress took a long look inside of her daughter's soul and shuddered. She couldn't help but feel remorse for what had been done to Lyn, but as Sorceress, she had a responsibility to protect Eternia, even from her own daughter. "Let her go," the Sorceress said. He-Man did, trusting in the Sorceress' wisdom.

Lyn looked at them. "I curse each of you" she snarled inhumanly before running away through the drawbridge and into the jungle.

"I'll stop her," Stratos volunteered.

"No," the Sorceress said. "I meant it. She is free now. Unless she does something to hurt someone, let her find her own way."

He-Man stepped up to the throne next. He asked, "Sorceress, why do I still look like myself. I am He-Man, but I look like the King"

"Because, my champion. He-Man was always just a reflection of what you could be. Only the ancient dress and the power are Grayskull's. You have always been the true hero, inside and out.

"And now, I have one last announcement to make," she said, leaving the dais again to stand next to her daughter. "Teela, you are not ready to be Sorceress." Teela opened her mouth to protest but was silenced with a look from the wise guardian. "My desire to be with your father blinded me to my duties. I'm ready to admit that now." She looked longingly at Duncan, who met her gaze and held it, departing to her some of the love and respect he had for her.

The Sorceress smiled. "This mortal life is short, even for me, compared to the one that awaits us," she whispered. Finally, she turned back to Teela, brushing a strand of hair from her daughter's face. "You, my child, may continue your training with the serpent staff. One day you will be the new Sorceress." Then she leaned in, so that just her Teela could hear her. "But first, Daughter, I will have a grandchild, I think."

The Sorceress returned to her throne, sitting regally, and looked proudly on the heroes standing before her. She watched with joy as her daughter's hand shyly reached out and was caught up in Adam's warm embrace.

END


End file.
